March 2009 — Sentry

Lahnee Chee
child of moon and sea
pearl of her father’s eye
gave birth to an orchard
born of precious seeds
from a single Mandarin orange
brought from the homeland afar
dazzling orange fruit
mottled with blushes of red
nutriment-kissed in scarlet dust groves
that saved and sustained the new nation…
a childhood whim turned to gold.

When she passed on
at one hundred and three
all who mourned her
knew what to do
though she’d left no will,
no specific instructions;
In a pearl laden box
they placed her ashes,
in a  scarlet dust orchard
buried deep with love,
beneath dazzling orange fruit
mottled with blushes of red.

~*~
Cathy Buburuz lives and works in Regina, Saskatchewan, a place laughingly referred to as The Great White North because the temperature often falls to 40 degrees below zero. Cathy serves as the editor of Champagne Shivers, Expressions, and the Potter’s Field anthologies. Over the years, she’s enjoyed publication in many fine publications including City Slab: Urban Tales of the Grotesque, Midnight Street, Space and Time Magazine, Sounds of the Night, Aoife’s Kiss, Wicked Karnival, The Modern Art Cave anthology, In the Outposts of Beyond anthology, the Nasty Snips anthology, and Bare Bone. Cathy invites you to check out Champagne Shivers 2008, which is now available in The Genre Mall. To read the table of contents: http://www.genremall.com/zinesr.htm#champagneshivers