All the Way from China

I have an old toy that came from China, 

Animals cut from colored cloth and cotton batting

Threaded with embroidery.

A bird, a frog, a dragon and a dog, 

One after the other on a string.

It wasn’t spring then but I was there for certain.

I was there when the pomegranates sold from baskets set on blankets,

When wooden carts were pulled by hand, 

When bicycles packed the hard roads,

When people rolled and wrapped the harvest.

It was fall of course, not spring.

I was there, though, for certain.

Harvest time near Xian, 1983