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The peach tree in Mama’s backyard Beckoned me home, Abode atop a mountain I’ve never owned, Soil, beneath feet, I’ve barely known.
And it’s within this grand scheme of Her name, “Zhang,” A name, adopting me and etched upon a time, Temples built “then” to bridge tomorrow’s trace,
That I first taste - To belong. To be. To become. To shed the shadow of the nameless. I no longer fear the end. I await it.
- Hathaway Hayes (2024)












