OFFERING

She tells me in Beijing the air
is full of burnt prayers
and sends me sheets of onion paper
blocked in gold, swift with calligraphy.
This one's a gambler's prayer:
send me luck at cards.
This one for a son at last;
this, for quiet times.
They burn in seconds there.
Here, I hold them alive in my hands,
then catch them under glass.

Elizabeth Foy