M. Cynthia Cheung
Thus I Take My Leave of the World
Even ancient buildings exhale
at the arrival of night—a quiet
settling, shift
of weight. Legend says Anne Boleyn’s
body was secretly reburied
in the foundations of her ancestors’
church, and folks today swear
they’ve seen a floating silver hare
in the chancel; it disappears
the moment its feet strike the earth.
Some guidebooks speculate
about where in the church the queen lies
and why locals seldom hunt hare—perhaps few
want to mistake the witch’s familiar
for nourishment. Which is fine for them,
except that when such a creature is caught
in a snare, in the encircling
pain what she’s forgotten could arise—old promises
she once made herself. She could
open those bright eyes.
She could bite through.
M. Cynthia Cheung reads “Thus I Take My Leave of the World”
M. Cynthia Cheung is a physician whose poems can be found in The Baltimore Review, Four Way Review, Gulf Coast, Pleiades, RHINO, swamp pink, and others. A prior Idyllwild Arts Writers Week fellow, she is a poetry editor for Bear Review and serves as a judge for Baylor College of Medicine’s annual Michael E. DeBakey Medical Student Poetry Award. Find out more at www.mcynthiacheung.com.