when you spread my ashes

when you spread my ashes

spread them please

over the Han River

into a southwestern breeze

  

let me drift with her

through Taichung to the sea

over rocks and falls

with egrets feeding on me

 

the butterflies can kiss me

the turtles wave me on

we both weren't born here

but here we sing our song

 

when the sky gets dark and cloudy

and dragonflies alight

please take me to the river

where everything's alright

 

so long as i don't pollute her

you've my permission to dump

 with the mountain stream naturally

across her curves and bumps

 

and when the ocean finds me

into the Taiwan Strait

across sea miles to China

or through the pearly gate

 

i'll make it cross the Pacific

like Fukushima radioactivity

 through the melted northern passage

 to Long Island eventually

 

that's where i'll find my mother

grandparents aunt and uncle

a couple of red rosenbergs

and even art garfunkel

 

so when there're only ashes

of what was once my brain

shake into Han waters

my pleasures and my pain

 

but if it is illegal

do not tell a soul

the KMT will catch you

and throw you in the hole

 

do it in the moonlight

with no one there to tell

my prayers will all be answered

if you do it well

 

9-8-13