Lonely Planet
No one asks how you feel, or if you are lonely.
Bathed in an orange glow from the sun and the silver mists of the moon.
Perhaps you do feel lonely - you put up with so much pain.
You are one of the 400 billion planets in the spiralling Milky Way,
constantly moving in a vast universe expanding beyond my imagination.
No one asks how you feel, or if you are lonely.
Fires raging across mountains. Wounds opening on bare earth.
Rivers bursting their banks. Oceans littered with discarded plastics.
Perhaps you do feel lonely - you put up with so much pain.
Bombs falling on yet another city, another village. Black smoke clouding the air.
Burning homes are left behind. Crowded boats rocking on rough seas.
No one asks how you feel, or if you are lonely.
But you’ve endured all this with a big, broken heart, continuing to nurture
every animal and plant, every human being who has caused you so much pain.
Perhaps you do feel lonely - you put up with so much pain.
Standing under the black, velvet sky, surrounded by eerie silence.
Tonight I can touch your loneliness and feel your pain.
No one asks how you feel, or if you are lonely,
Perhaps you do feel lonely - you put up with so much pain.
Night Walk
We walk
out of Broadmarsh bus station,
into the quiet streets
and deserted squares
illuminated
by the white glow
of LED streetlights,
taking care not to slip
on the black ice
over the frosted tarmac,
nor awaken
the sleeping birds
as they dream of summer.
Feathers of snow
begin to fall.
Some melt in the air.
Some land on our hair.
Others stick to houses and trees,
painting the roofs silver,
plumping up the bushes.
We walk
past squares of dark windows
with occasional flickering lights
shining through curtains
that tell sleepless stories
of another life, another household.
We walk and walk
without hesitation or pause
almost breathless.
We head towards our home.
It’ll be dark and cold inside,
but it’ll soon warm up
once we get in.
We quicken our steps knowing
we are almost
there.
____________
Hongwei Bao grew up in Inner Mongolia, China, and lives in Nottingham, UK. He uses short
stories, poems and essays to explore queer desire, Asian identity, diasporic positionality and transcultural intimacy. His debut poetry collection The Passion of the Rabbit God
came out with Valley Press in summer 2024.
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