So I visited a faraway place, the dying queen.
I gave her mangoes dipped in exotic chocolate
as I had been taught to do.
She gave me:
“A family is a species unto itself.”
I visited a faraway place, the dying queen.
I gave her my stillness, with some effort.
She gave me:
“A person is a species unto itself.”
I visited a…place, the dead queen.
I gave her my silence.
She gave me:
“A moment is a species unto itself.”
I watched as her last breath,
born a Monarch,
mango and chocolate in motion,
fluttered off
to a faraway place,
carrying traces of my breath
with it.