Joseph deBettencourtChicago, Illinois, United States I’m watching, knees bending,Looking meek, my heart quiet,Drifting away are the shadowsOf fussy world affairsWhile I’m envisioning, dreaming ofvoices from other worlds -Aleksandr Blok, untitled poem, July 3, 1901a Stepping off the train in northern China, Nikolai Korotkov was the farthest he had ever been from home. He would have…