An Empress trod these
Summer Palace steps
To the steep hillside temple.

We know that
The Dragon Lady arrived
Chasing tranquility,
Escaping the throne
Built for men
While an emperor son,
Listening to weak words,
Moved an empire
Toward the rocks.

In her time,
The Dowager
Salvaged the Middle Kingdom.
She was a legend that undertook
An impossible task
In a world where women,
Meant to be grass,
Were  ground into dust;
Blamed for men’s failures.

British, French and German ambitions
Fueled by opium and misguided Christians
looted this Confucian Empire
Burning down temples and pavilions
Where concubines once sang
And Emperors wrote poems
While painting watercolors on rice paper.

Today I walk in her footsteps
Looking out at the lotus lake;
The concrete boat;
A  distant pagoda
Finding the same tranquility
Allowing me to escape
The drugged world
Dominated by atomic, terrorist fears
Fueled by the same poppies.

I understand why the Last Empress
Climbed these steps.
That’s why I’m here--
To salvage her secret;
To take some of it with me
Captured in digital pictures.

Maybe that way,
I’ll find protection from
Tomorrows bad news.

She never did,
But I’m not an Empress—
Just a simple man,
Deluded,
Thinking he’s complex. 

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