June 1989

Sometimes drawers are portals
A yellow envelope trapped
in the back of an old desk drawer
Warns 'Save, June 1989'

A long forgotten photo with
a brittle news clipping
Stopped my breath
I travelled to China in June 1989

Our host, seated between us,
grins warmly into the future
As do we
The AP dispatch describes
a horrific scene

"In the spring of 1989, Tiananmen Square,
set in the center of Beijing, became the site of the
largest pro-democracy movement in China in the
twentieth century. ...... (during) giddy days in April and
May in 1989 throngs of more than a million filled the
streets of Beijing, criticizing the growing corruption.
..... And then, after several exhilarating weeks, it all came to a sudden end. In the early hours of June 4, as the world watched in horror, the tanks of the People's Liberation Army rolled
toward Tiananmen Square and troops fired on the crowd
killing hundreds and wounding thousands."

Memories gush forth like
an opened sluice gate
A kaleidoscope of jumbled
images
Slowly begin to coalesce
into days we relished in June 1989

A Peking Duck dinner with new friends
Open flow of opinions and ideas
Punctuated by hearty toasts
to the liberty to come in June 1989

Students in hotels greet Westerners
with eagerness and anticipation
To practice English and chat about
their dreams soon to come in June 1989

An old man on the street
invites us to tea at his simple home
We write in his guest book along with
other global visitors in June 1989

John, more than guide rather
kindred spirit
Filled with exuberance and faith
in the future
Will visit when his student visa
is approved in June 1989

So many friends lost
Phantoms now
They haunt my dreams
every day since June 1989