Monday, December 30, 2019
AFTER THE CHINESE MASTERS
THINKING OF HAN YU
A goose for
supper, then.
"Which to slaughter?"
the boy asks.
"Kill the one
who cannot sing."
~
AFTER TWO LINES
BY YUAN CHEN
The river wind
sings in the trees
as in a dream.
I sit and watch
the sun come up
and think how far
we are now from
one another.
~
AFTER "LATE SPRING"
BY YUAN CHEN
Birds talking and stirring the dust;
wind closing the gate at sunset;
petals falling off the flowers:
here I sit, alone and lonely.
~
AFTER TWO LINES FROM
TU MU'S "THE CRANE"
All day alone,
the crane, sad
with only
his shadow.
~
AFTER SSU-K'UNG T'U'S
'IN THE COUNTRY'
All night under
a shelter of
pines I sit
drinking wine
and thinking
the rain is
flower petals
falling all
around me,
thinking why would
that old monk
I talked to want
to see someone
like me again.
~