Little

A little boy comes up to me and utters words that I do not understand. It's not that he can't speak well for a four-year old. I just can't understand the language. He then grins, his mouth decorated with the absence of teeth. How is it possible that one can lose so many teeth at a young age? He squints his eyes with glee as he sees the puzzlement expressed in my face. He understands that expression yet there is little that I know about what goes on in his mind.

Maybe

She has a long vertical scar on the right side of her face. She touches my index finger, gently pressing it until I pull it from her touch. It hurts. "Maybe it's infected", she casually remarks. Maybe. And that's it. Nothing else. Maybe.

She

I meet her at the bar. She's here for a visit. For a while, she says. I look at her, trying to read her. She is beautiful and her mind a gem. When she talks, her voice exudes confidence. There are glitters in her eyes as her smile melts whatever is in the way. But, most of all, inside her resides that mysterious ferocity. Ferocity for life or for want of life. Or ferocity for want of living life. I can easily fall but past lessons teach me well: I have a bad karma when it comes this situation. A scratch of wound through my heart would unnecessarily dramatize the situation. I am only flirting with my past regrets now. Oh, well...

Danzanravjaa

I dreamed
a smile long gone
next to my pillow
the moon

- Excerpt from a Mongolian haiku by the Noyon Khutugt Danzanravjaa

Listen

She comes to see me in my tiny office. I don't have an extra chair to offer her so she sits on a small empty drawer desk. Her eyes drill into mine and her lips start moving, pouring words of anger and frustration into me. Her usual smile and cheerfulness leaves her heart. It is not at me she is angry but our ill-hearted bosses. She uses those words: ill hearted. I listen to her, keeping my mind empty and my heart cold. I cannot afford to fall into her drift of despair. I can only listen and utter small meaningless words. I know she doesn't care what I say or think about her predicament. She only needs someone to listen. I can only listen.