Hiding out-back of a hand-built tea-shop,

bamboo over lake Kaptai,

strong sweet chai,

seeping smoke,

skinny chicken picks round my toes,

skinny boy grins and stirs reflected light into my tea.

No one can see my difference here –

ask impossible questions like where I’m from,

but I can watch their loud, crowded lives

chattering past on bright paths

and feel happy and sad inside,

in shade,

in a bamboo teashop.

Rangamati 2016