One in a Billion

Her mother’s corn blonde hair,

And her fathers ocean blue eyes,

look up at her from above

as she makes her way to the top

of a wall so famous,

it can be seen from space.

As she leaves the world of red white and blue,

She is greeted with a new one of red and yellow.

The noises become louder and she hears,

 “ni jiao shenme mingzi?”.

The aliens speak to her but

she does not know how to respond.

Strange looks are given as she matches

the black hair and brown eyes

to a pair of her own.

But she has no voice to talk back.

Down below, her parents wait,

with a confident heart and

 a warm embrace

to a culture that is not their own.

With every step she takes

every part of her body shivers

 like a dog in a thunderstorm

unable to stop moving.

Then, a man says “ni hao”.

She replies with “hello”.

His warm shiny brown eyes

reassure her of the reflection

 she sees in the mirror.

Somewhere, she knows who he is

and she takes one last climb to the top.

What she sees, is not the tourist view.

A rush of power charges her emotions

down her spine.

She can taste the tears

and feel a smile that stretches

wider than the wall itself.

She is in a world of her own,

half America, and half China,

standing in the middle of the Great Wall.