When Mrs Papia Was an Innocent Girl
Noon glitters like a whetted knife
An anonymous bird on a drumstick
Tree stoops in drowsiness.
Tree stoops in drowsiness.
Someone scatters the yard
With tamarind seeds.
With tamarind seeds.
You have held a mirror in
Your hand.
Your mom lovingly unties
Your matted hair.
The curtain under the
Spell of ebb and tide
comes and goes with the wind.
Your hand.
Your mom lovingly unties
Your matted hair.
The curtain under the
Spell of ebb and tide
comes and goes with the wind.
Touched by the wintry
fingers your little crab of love
expresses its
annoyance
fingers your little crab of love
expresses its
annoyance
raising pincers to the
sky.
sky.
Finally you hop the fence
stealthily
like a kid
And enter a garden of fruits.
Juicy
Longans hanging from branches.
stealthily
like a kid
And enter a garden of fruits.
Juicy
Longans hanging from branches.
You jig up and down
With a picker in hand.
With a picker in hand.
The night flaps
her wings
Like a cricket.
her wings
Like a cricket.
From the wardrobe
of galaxy
you take
a dark night saree
Spangled with stars.
And stand calmly before
the mirror of my eyes.
of galaxy
you take
a dark night saree
Spangled with stars.
And stand calmly before
the mirror of my eyes.
Shadow engulfs shadow.
Like a house gecko catching
A fluttering cockroach.
Like a house gecko catching
A fluttering cockroach.
Dimocarpus longan is a member of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae). Its fruit is similar to that of the lychee, a relative, but has a less aromatic taste. Its name is derived from the Cantonese "lùhng-ngáahn" (dragon eye) because when its fruit is shelled its black seed shows through the translucent flesh like a pupil. Vietnamese doctors used to press the "eye" of the seed against snakebites to absorb the venom.
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