The Middlewesterner

AFTER SOME LINES
FROM "SAD SONG"
OF THE YUEH-FU
FROM THE HAN DYNASTY

I want to cross the river,
no boat.

I want to go home,
no one there.

If I would speak,
no words.

Within me
the wheels of a cart

grind and turn,
grind and turn.

~

AFTER SOME LINES
FROM T'AO CH'IEN'S
"BEARER'S SONG"

All the mourners
make their way home

and still the family
carries its sorrow.

Where do the dead go
after the dying, after

the body is given
unto the mountains?

~

AFTER HSIEH T'IAO'S
"VIEWING THE THREE LAKES"

The red clouds
of sunset

again
on the water.

From up here
I can watch

the birds gather.
I can see

the reach of
wide plains

around me,
of the river

and its islands.
I can see

spring coming,
still yellow

with autumn.
Evening brings

its sadness
and I think

of old friends.
What does it

amount to,
any of this,

I wonder.

~

AFTER SOME LINES
FROM T'AO CH'IEN'S
"DRINKING WINE: NO. 5"

South Mountain
surprises me
as evening

comes on, the
birds returning
wing to wing.

All that's true
is true, right
here, right now.

Which I would
tell you, if
there were words.

~