Monarch Chronicles

"New rice not yet ripe in the field,
old rice all gone,
I went to borrow a sack
and hesitated outside the door."

   – Han Shan, 125





3

Cornstalks late summer sharp as blades
if you walk through the rows just right.
A childhood memory for many hiding
through the maze at random points.
You could stop, duck low to the open stalks
and set your feet in the mud and sand.
Like a butterfly resting on a milkweed leaf
you could see the coming feet then off.