'Are You An Illegal? ' Poem by Cynthia Buhain-baello

An unfortunate thing
Happened to me in Sydney
While doing my shopping
Sans my jewelry

In my faded jeans
And cotton floral shirt
(Oh well, looks could not mean
What a person is worth!)

As I went to a nice shop
There the Chinese local
Quite rudely spoke up
'Are you an illegal? '

Her attitude stunned me
(My hair is black and I'm fat)
My skin is brown, certainly
but nothing to say I was that!

So without an iota of fear
I replied to the chinky nina
'I'm a guest speaker here -
Do you want to see my visa? '

She buckled broken English
Promptly served my purchase
Perhaps prayed I would vanish
Hope she learned to check her ways!


Lesson:

A fly on a cattle's back feasts
Thinking it is taller than the beast.