Coffee Time Cafe: Xinxiang: Henan Province, China.

Everybody here is fresh and young.
Unscratched, and never tired
of looking at each other.

I took a seat and opened my copy of
“The Last Night of the Earth Poems”
And felt like the oldest person in China.

The coffee is hot and clean, I come
here mainly for the coffee.
And the old waitress who always
says “hello” in practiced English.

There is a young couple across from me.
He wants to touch her, pressing for a kiss
at least in mind and spirit.

But this is not the way it happens in China.
And she is having none of it.

A quick look and a smile at me.
And without minor notice,
she decides to leave.

So now I am alone again,
a little earlier than I expected today.