Smith woke up

 

Smith woke up midnight this time to sounds of Chinese in his head.
Smith does not know Chinese but he thought wrote a poem
unknowingly, by Li Po. He doesn't know Li Po
from Won Ton and never was in a China City or valley or
maybe saw a Chinese vista in a painting.
He doesn't remember the poem he thought wrote, and he
wasn't actually writing it but it visited him
while he sat there, not reciting it and not reading and not
speaking it. When he tried to recall what he was doing
he could not. He didn't imagine he did it effortlessly,
and is not a spiritual person and fixes bicycles during the day.
He felt emptier inside that morning, and was slightly
aware of the emptiness around him, walking thru the air.
He felt the emptiness all day, and saw the people who
came walking by him as more empty than before, like
they were shells on a sandy shore somewhere
that were once alive. He never was the same
and never knew why.