“There will always be delightful
mysteries in your life,”
says the small white slip.
“11 19 37 87 69 02”
And I wonder who at
the Peking Noodle Company
thought to insert the word
“delightful.” I have carried
this scrap in my wallet for years,
most likely because of that word.
Tucked next to it in text of red:
“YOUR LOVE LIFE WILL BE
HAPPY AND HARMONIOUS
08 11 12 15 34 37”
They both agree on 11.
I do not know what I would
write in the fortune cookie
I would eat tonight. Perhaps,
“Smile often and see what
happens,” as I read one time
in Chinatown. Or perhaps,
“So much pleasure from
one small vase. Don’t forget
to praise the larkspur.”
But it is no time for prophecy
or for knowing much at all
except that the larkspur
really is very beautiful—so
delicate, so delightfully blue.