‘The Traveler’
By Shindy Cai
I walked along a dusty road, The night was long and cruel and cold. When suddenly upon the path, I came across a speck of gold. I picked it up in sheer delight, And stumbled to a broken inn. Yet when I asked to stay the night, The keeper wouldn’t let me in. He would not take the speck of gold In fact, he looked quite unimpressed, “Though pure and good, it can’t be sold,” He said, “—So small it’s valueless.” So I was thrown back to the road, And turned away from warmth and light. And I was lost and cold and scared, Forgotten child of the night. And so I stumbled on my way, The path ahead was dark and bleak. Did no one see my silent tears? —Abandoned child, lost and weak. But something urged me to go on, A voice inside that always said, “No matter what you must stay strong” —A speck of gold inside my head. So many fears I fought away, And faced the demons in my mind. They could not dare lead me astray, If I stayed patient, calm and kind. And when at last the dawn broke through, Straight up ahead, what did I see? A golden palace laced with light, And there stood God awaiting me. And I fell trembling at His feet, How did I ever doubt His plans? But God just laughed and raised me up, And took the gold speck from my hands. I realized that it was the same As that grand palace where I stood With walls that shone like righteous flames And simply made, both pure and good. He said, “I let you tarry there, Back at the inn so long ago. For I was waiting here for you, And now my child, you are home.”
Shindy Cai resides in upstate New York and works as a professional classical dancer for Shen Yun Performing Arts.
‘Westward, With Columbus’
By Paul A. Freeman
The North Atlantic Ocean was awash with monsters and leviathans, or so we fearfully supposed, and thought it tosh by sailing west, to India we could go.
Then Christopher Columbus raised three crews. From Spain we sailed. A westward route we took. For sixty days no terra firma news— we took our tight-lipped captain for a crook.
Then after spotting dolphins, we gained land, an archipelago, large islands, too; and with his glass, Columbus smugly scanned the Indies—of the West!—but they would do.
We feared aquatic titans. None abound. And lo, a brand-new continent we’d found.
tosh: nonsense (British, informal)
Paul A. Freeman is the author of ‘Rumours of Ophir,’ a crime novel which was taught in Zimbabwean high schools and has been translated into German. In addition to having two novels, a children’s book and an 18,000-word narrative poem (‘Robin Hood and Friar Tuck: Zombie Killers!’) commercially published, Paul is the author of hundreds of published short stories, poems and articles.‘Reconnection Surprise’
By Russel Winick
I saw a guy I knew from junior high, We reminisced an hour, or maybe more, Nice memories were shared in fine supply, As we had never talked that long before.
Of all that he recalled so poignantly, What’s guaranteed to always most amaze, Was how much more he’d clearly thought of me, Than I thought of myself back in those days.
Russel Winick recently started writing poetry after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.
