Smell of incense

under the spring sun

buds blossom

I can’t even open the kimbap lunch box

Headed to a country where no address can be found

leaving my children behind

Life is dots of mystery

everything stops

but love rooted in the rock

When you drive The Artist’s Road in Death Valley

to find me or answer

please stop the car

push back your seat

make yourself comfortable

like a caterpillar in a dark room

listen to the dialogue with silence

Remember

I was enough

Remember

I always chose love

I tried my best to live happily

Remember

You are the gifts I leave to the universe

Such a blessing

One last bedtime story I will read to you:

Now the hero defeats the villain

The world is a prize of peace and love

Oma will become a superhero and come back for you

Tanya (Hyonhe) Ko Hong is a bilingual Korean American poet. translator, playwright, and cultural curator. Tanya was the first Korean-American recipient of the Yun Doon-ju Korean-American Literature Award and the 10th Ko Won Memorial Foundation Literature Award in 2020. Her segmented poem, “Comfort Woman,” won the 11th Moon Prize from Writing in a Woman’s Voice; it is now being turned into a play.