heritage

Screaming tires on flooded freeways,

A sanitized skyscraper and smooth glass,

Fragile people, sobs of grief and the occasional miracle,

Crowded elevators on squeaking pulleys,

Stability in the doorway,

An orchid, petals wavering, weak,

Inside a beautiful red dragon,

Tears of gold, breathing mist into the frigid air,

The moon extending its billowing grasp,

She runs, laughing, into the heavens,

A lotus lays back into the mud.