Tricia Mae Chua

Life is too short to be spent
griping about the past,
things you don't have,
places you haven't seen,
...

You were a young leaf
A flapping shimmer of green
In the early spring sunshine
Happy, joyous
...

Even now I dream of you
In different forms and guises.
Simple joys of aery days—
Rooster crows to greet the morning,
...

The day opens with a gray nondescript sky
Yellowing leaves strewn haphazardly
on the patchy lawn below my bedroom window.
The air motionless outside except for an occasional breeze
...

I am a child of the Light and I will return to the Light.
This thought brings me hope and much joy.
We are all wounded like shards of broken glass.
That is both the pain and beauty of life—
...

Here is my early morning delight…
Lying together with you in a tangled heap of soft warm flesh just before dawn;
Chest to chest with your legs entwined in mine.
Your arms envelope me and draw me in closer until we come face to face.
...

Delicate pink petals
Raining down like confetti
On this gusty spring day.
...

A goat rope-bound by its neck
To a stake on the ground
The thing its center
and yet its bane
...

I scan through the cards on the shelf.
The simplest of tasks
Seems like the hardest thing for me to do,
trying to pick the right one for you.
...

Thinking of you
Rain pouring down
Dry oak leaves
Dark night embracing
...

Like bookends to a decade
You shy of forty by two
I two just off thirty
With pages of life in between
...

Fall 2007

I think of you, little winter wren
Sitting on the palm of my open hand.
...

You introduced me to the Star Rock and sat with me in that hallowed place,
To kytheing and to quantum physics,
...

...

In these quiet moments of deep winter,
I think of you,
as I stand with my candle burning
in my frostbitten hands
...

It was a long time ago...
that place that looked more like a garage than a school.
I never realized it for that,
nor did the children inside my small cramped classroom.
...

I am lonely again
So I take up my pen
And keep company with words.
These words on a page
...

It’s 6: 30 A.M. and dark outside; still barely dawn.
I fix my morning milk shake like I always do
As I listen to the radio anchorman
Talk on of the current housing crisis,
...

The rain is falling
A light drizzle
At 8: 14 P.M.
It adds a peaceful base
...

You are my Prince off to fight his dragons,
Personal battles of momentous proportions.
And I am your Princess-In-Waiting,
Waiting for your safe return.
...