Smoke Signals

From a distance

your face looks like an old man 

with a beard

as I move closer

it is only your chin

I cannot shake 

the image of beard

Growing up

I learned of European explorers

Puritans on the Mayflower

friendly Indians

never a mention

that I was living in a

post-genocidal nation

who had dropped

the first atomic bomb

after fire bombing Tokyo 


dVerse prompt on smoke and mirrors

Smoke Signals