bod [包家巷 ] - Dear Diary,

For Petrarubra Festival 2021, edition zero. bod [包家巷] Dear Diary, Are you still there? I know this comes too late Just for today with clipped wings I could not leave the place of families born Given the appropriate permissions to nest for my eggs Only offered seed of quality beyond my expectations And a place to rest as my feathers fell for now I could sleep if not for the allure of being amongst others like me After the fall of empires their theatrical replacements built only small houses The story I was told was always the same Nativity through time, then assimilation through war I had stopped asking what happened prior When I did, only the moon would answer with a forced impunity It was difficult to believe that a place would look any different The story I was told was always the same After the fall of empires Thousands of years before or after the sun remained unchanging Memories of her children semi-legibly etched into stones 13 of them, I think Buried beneath extant roots that I watched others water o