‘The Traveler’ and Other Poetry by Shindy Cai

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The Traveler

I walked along a dusty road,
The night was long and cruel and cold.
When suddenly upon the path,
I came across a speck of gold.
I picked it up in sheer delight,
And stumbled to a broken inn.
Yet when I asked to stay the night,
The keeper wouldn’t let me in.
He would not take the speck of gold
In fact, he looked quite unimpressed,
“Though pure and good, it can’t be sold,”
He said, “—So small it’s valueless.”
So I was thrown back to the road,
And turned away from warmth and light.
And I was lost and cold and scared,
Forgotten child of the night.
And so I stumbled on my way,
The path ahead was dark and bleak.
Did no one see my silent tears?
—Abandoned child, lost and weak.
But something urged me to go on,
A voice inside that always said,
“No matter what you must stay strong”
—A speck of gold inside my head.
So many fears I fought away,
And faced the demons in my mind.
They could not dare lead me astray,
If I stayed patient, calm and kind.
And when at last the dawn broke through,
Straight up ahead, what did I see?
A golden palace laced with light,
And there stood God awaiting me.
And I fell trembling at His feet,
How did I ever doubt His plans?
But God just laughed and raised me up,
And took the gold speck from my hands.
I realized that it was the same
As that grand palace where I stood
With walls that shone like righteous flames
And simply made, both pure and good.
He said, “I let you tarry there,
Back at the inn so long ago.
For I was waiting here for you,
And now my child, you are home.”

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Sunrise

Today I watched the Sun rise for the first time in my life,
I thought it’d be an epic burst of color and of light.
I waited for that instant when the world would start aglow,
With blazing streaks of red and gold, a striking fire show.
But actually the dawn floats in on silent sleepy wings,
And coats the world in creamy hues of gentle silver rings.
So when the Sun rose softly up I couldn’t help but think,
How gingerly he brushed the sky and turned it rosy pink.
The pearly mist was scattered into drops of golden dew,
And silently the amber dawn gave way to robin blue.
You sit and watch the darkness fade away from growing light,
The losing shadows must retreat from angels dressed in white.
If you are ever lonely then just wake up with the Sun,
That moment takes you higher—more than any other one.

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Shindy Cai resides in upstate New York and works as a professional classical dancer for Shen Yun Performing Arts.