Tomorrow!
I say.
Like I said,
Yesterday.
Tomorrow,
Come tomorrow,
I’ll take care of it then.
For time would heal,
The pains I feel,
In body and soul.
But come tomorrow-
What will happen then?
I’ll do it the next day,
I’ll play with you then.
But time runs out,
How I ask-
How?
Every night exhausted,
Every morning sans life.
Nights so short,
Days even shorter.
So I’ll do it the next month,
Mama, I’ll take care of it then.
Don’t worry,
It’ll soon be over.
Just leave me for an hour,
A day.
Tomorrow, maybe,
I say.
How about the next day?
Oh so busy without achievements.
Next month-
Next year?
I’ll be free then,
You hear?
High school will be over-
Leave me three years!
I’ll be 18
I’ll be grown by then.
You won’t have to worry
I’ll be a woman then.
But what about college,
The knowledge,
The tree,
Of university?
A few more years,
Several at the max.
Then I’ll be home,
I could relax.
But when I graduate,
The world will be at my fate
What then?
How then?
I’ll be grown.
I’ll grow more.
Soon maybe a family of four.
A job,
A life.
A love,
To strive.
What if it was too fast,
For you, too slow?
You’ll give up waiting-
What’s my happiness then?
I’ll grey,
I’ll sag.
What’s left for me?
Some rags.
A bag,
Of memories.
Photos of youth,
So wasted,
So fast.
I grew up, ma
Just the way you wanted.
I’m a woman now,
The life I wanted.
I am still a child,
That’s today.
But what of tomorrow,
The next,
I say?
Xizi Luo
