My Life as a Chinese Restaurant Placemat1
I am an aging dragon, fire-spent, crack-tooth’d, ashy-throated,
with tattered wings and crippled claws;
My fate to marry a monkey in my age, as if dragon life alone
were not enough to prove my eccentricity.
We dragons are passionate and complex.
I found my monkey; we were wed.
But dragons live for centuries, and monkeys only years;
It could not last, and I am left
An empty cave no dragon fire nor mammal energy can warm.
1 Dragon – You are eccentric and your life complex. You have a
passionate nature and abundant health. Marry a Monkey or Rat
late in life. Avoid the dog.
Monkey – You are very intelligent and are able to influence people.
An enthusiastic achiever, you are easily discouraged and confused.
Avoid Tigers. Seek a Dragon or a Rat.
A. Waller Hastings
A. Waller Hastings is a retired college professor and occasional poet based in Wheeling, West Virginia. As an academic, he published studies of Disney animation and children’s books; as a poet, he has previously appeared in the South Dakota Review, Paper Street, and Oziana.