iwenttoseethepandas

I went to See the Pandas

I went to see the pandas

I wanted to give them each a hug

I went to see a Buddha five stories high

carved into the stone of a red river cliff

I wanted to sit in the coil of his ear and listen for the ocean or the

primordial secrets of the universe

I walked up a mountainside

to view the calcified pools

yawning over the slope

catching volumes of liquid sapphire

giant under-bite jawbones

collecting saliva

with nothing to say

I wanted to jump in wearing all of my clothes and float around their circumference, buoyed by the air caught in my shirt

I went to the temple to offer my prayers but the incense smelled of burnt food

and the prayer wheel was stuck

I went for a walk at dusk in Songpan

down the hill and up to the gate covered in stars and cursive

I met with Uighars under the corrugated tin roof of their roadside stand

and practiced prayers in Arabic with the man in the white embroidered skull cap.

The children lined up and counted to ten in English and I gave them five.

My heart was full of God

“Allahu Akbar" we called together

and hugged goodbye.

©2008 Hillary Swanson. All rights reserved.