NO RETURN

	by Raymond B. Kupelian


	The wife was begging me
	To get ride of that ugly bunch
	Of awful fake flowers
	Planted in the old pot
	Resting not long ago
	Over the balcony's
	White coffee table
	That had ruthlessly deceived
	A young humming bird

	I drove to the nearby
	Old Japanese nursery
	Bought some young violets
	To change the look
	Of east side balcony...
	I added some fertilizer
	To the dry gardening soil
	And with lot of pain
	Transplanted the flowers
	And suck them
	With my sweating
	And why not,
	A lot of plain tap water
	>From the kitchen tub...

	The flowerpot looked great
	The coffee table adorned
	With the festive colors
	White, purple and not red ...
	Nature shined in harmony
	Which made the wife very happy
	And the blossoming pansies
	Would soon get used
	To their new environment...

	People and the nature
	Seemed in jovial mood
	But the humming bird
	With his unhealed wound
	Disappointed from men
	Did never returned...

	To my own detriment
	I discovered later
	That those little creatures
	Of the neighboring wood
	Are exclusively attracted
	To the reddish color of ...
	no other than blood.


--
Raymond B. Kupelian is a recognized author in the Diaspora as well as
in Armenia, where a sampling of his short stories and latest two
novels have been published. Now in his sixties, Mr. Kupelian has lived
in Liberia and Sierra Leone for more than twenty years.  His African
short stories have been translated into English and Russian.