I was Pu Yi

1 -- 1912
trouble boy, ruler ruined
last emperor of China
hurled a mouse at wooden gates
feeling that he was that mouse
a pet, a toy for display
he found out that day
in his Forbidden City
that he was nothing

2 -- 1983
we entered through the tall arch
a picture of Chairman Mao
ushered us in
the City, stone sculptures, red flags
concrete pathways
was she with me then
when I was here
the first time?

3 -- late 19th century
I am a drug-lord in Mongolia
before Pu-Yi's time
we sit around a large rug
in an opium den
colleagues, fiends
I am betrayed, stabbed
in the back with a dirk
by my closest servant

4 -- now
we are reflections
in the pond of Being
of all we have been
yet something more
an evolution
propelled by earnestness

the impetuous boy emperor
lives on in me, the feckless drug lord
as well as his flunkie
with his curt spear
betrayer, betrayed
savior, saved