This is for the man in Wuhan
sitting by the roadside in the shade of the overpass
dirty white undershirt and mussed hair
eating a simple lunch, a sandwich and some melon slices
his wife put together for him in the morning
He enjoys his midday meal amid the haze of exhaust fumes
all chewed slowly in meditation against metal and concrete
honking horns and screeching tires
watching what has become of his city gone to progress
his appetite unaffected by its growth
If he has children, I think he prays for them
maybe for what they will have to face here
after he has left them
and a year later now, looking at his picture
I think about him and his family
and wonder how they have held up
against what none of us could see coming
Lanning Lee 