Let me be an elephant, a tiger, no less By ChiAn Ma Mia, Ma Maya, Empress Wong, May I be executed, may I be electrocuted, For I have seen the most ugly lady today, I say ugly, if ugly implies sickness, For I touched her ivory tooth and ma fingers broke, I say ugly, if ugly defines disease, For I kissed her on the nose and ma lips froze, I say ugly, if ugly refines beauty, For I spoke to her and she became a wall, I say ugly, if ugly becomes rain, For I took her belly for an umbrella, I say ugly, if ugly confines pain, For though she was draped with a royal headress, Vulgar orange satin flag with tiny bells at the edges, She was but a sixty six year old African queen, Wrinkles on her forehead, rough and rutted, Even if she had Cleopatra's beauty secrets, Even if her ears were not so big, Even if her legs were not like trees, Even if her hose were not so long, Even if she had been white instead of black, Ma Mia, Ma Maya, Empress Wong, Forgive me ma rashfulness, but you shouldn't Really be engaged in such a dangerous sport. Elephant riding is more lethal than a warm .45. An Elephant, when it is enraged or jealous, It would run amok, it would go crazy, It would entwine you, Jade Maiden, curling its trunk, As would a python, it would have crushed you, As would a pillion, it would have brushed you, Away, with a wriggle of her toe, For you know, she outweighs you by a ton, And who could have blamed her? Is there beauty in ugliness? Is there ugliness in beauty? Without ugliness, there will be no beauty. And I pray, you will not attempt such games anymore, For the good of mankind, pawned to Li Po, Saying, The white elephant is safer, Fifty five thousand five hundred and fifty miles from the Atlantic, The beast would have hurled you to Capricorn's liver garbage truck, Carrying you to the far side of reason, I know all these repetitious naggings are boring and unnecessary, But, for your safety, for your treaty, If ma tongue be severed, if ma hands be stumps, If you turn me away, if you hate me forever, Being but a baby monkey, I had been told, Not to play with elephants, or tigers, or the Devil, Dancing the mantra symphony for a quarter, Of autumn, of love, of rhythm, We have only known for nine days maybe, And I know exactly how you feel about me, what a pity, Questions and doubts arising by the dozen, For I know you will never appear again, When you know the truth about me, In another ten days, when the parcel of fire arrives, Three parts of a book, half a song, images of gray, I will not worry, if you choose to go, For I know, we are really very far away, In distance, in ambitions, in beliefs, in lifestyles, in fate, You: A fatalist, I: A romantic. Isn't life a gamble? Isn't death a drug? Isn't God a woman? Did you in your entire life imagine that you will be reading This note of independence, proclaiming liberty to be a crow Did you in your entire life imagine that you will be treading The waves of technological breakthroughs pegging you to thoughts About people you had never met, never knew, never smelled, How long does it take to know a person? the tiger asked, Happy it could be in the same plane as the lunar maiden, Contaminated by science, the moon has been killed, poetry died, For how many giant leaps can mankind take? How many steps would it take to walk to the North Star? There, I would be at peace, not constant, not tungsten, Where I would have no need for the material paradises, More hypocritical than a billion Chinese pigeons Marching toward the twilight Neptune, No longer knowing how to deliver letters, Their wings do not listen, replaced by giant iron birds, Flying people, words, fig lunches and pig dinners, Who would resurrect innocence? Who would appreciate the drunkard who drowned, Trying to catch the moon on the river? If you feel hot, will I not burn? If you feel cold, will I not turn? For who would come between emotion, confusion and pollution, So naked, so bare, so open, I plead, open, open the door of your soul, I plead, open, open the window of your spirit, For if window be soul be spirit be door, I will fulfil the promise in five months, if I'm not withdrawn, And I will be satisfied when I remember you, Thinking about the nightmare trishaw, Passing through the furnace of rebirth, For oil floats on mercury, yin on yang, The amalgam of opposites, melting butterfly differences, Shifting time into space, evaporating toad accents, Everything has to be nothing to be anything, No more, no less, no core, no jazz, Ma Mia, Ma Maya, Empress Wong, Don't worry, don't doubt, don't question, One day, you will be ma Jiaozi. Thank you. You look just like you, just as i suspected, great!