What stories lie locked
behind
your slowly fading eyes?
A book that no one reads anymore.
Outdated? Obselete?

"They never listen."
you sigh
mouth half open
ready to regale your grandchildren
with tales of

your marriage to the beautiful woman now gone to the grave
about folding gold ingots
on Qing Ming Jie
making dumplings on Duan Wu Jie
why the 'fu(2)' sign is turned upside down
how you learnt to swim
the many names of the sun
why the cat isn't included in the zodiac
your life as a coolie
importance of
filal
piety...

what yarns slumber in your limply hanging hands?
so frail against the white sheets

too

late

now.

And
this is how great traditions

die.

Dedicated to a very, very great photographer whose skills will remain with him for all eternity.
---By Yue Lin.
p.s. If I had things my way, this would not be the way it remained, forever. But that will come later.

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