Peonies. William Merrit Chase. 1897
Forget Dumas’ Dame Aux Camelias.I am Puccini’s geisha condemned to the chrysanthemum and the sword.
The first tragedy of Nagasaki, waiting for a tiny thread of smoke to appear
Yet the horizon reveals nothing but a butterfly-blue sky.
No little maid from school am I.
I am old, yet a child.
Godspeed Pinkerton, your memory fades
written for Magpie Tales 283