Friday, January 17, 2020

AFTER THE CHINESE MASTERS 

AFTER SOME LINES
BY CHENG HSIEH

A dog barks
at the falling stars

and wind darkens
the distant sound of flute.

~

REARRANGING SOME LINES
OF "IN THE WILDS, A DEAD DOE"
FROM THE SHIH CHING

She is urgent
as spring, pretty

as jade. She is
ready for you,

but go slow. Don't
make the dogs bark.

~

REARRANGING SOME LINES
FROM CHU YAUN'S "LAMENT FOR
YING" IN "THE NINE DECLARATIONS"
OF THE CH'U TZ-U

I follow the wind,
follow the stream,

my heart knotted,
leaving home.

~

REARRANGING SOME LINES
FROM "WALK ON WALK ON AGAIN"
IN THE YUEH-FU'S NINETEEN
ANCIENT POEMS

A wanderer
doesn't arrive,

doesn't return.
Thinking of you

has made me old.
And suddenly

it's evening.

~

AFTER SOME LINES
FROM "O HEAVENS!"
OF THE YUEH-FU
FROM THE HAN DYNASTY

When the mountains
wear down,

when the rivers
dry up,

when winter
thunders

and it snows
in summer,

when you can't tell
earth from sky,

only then
would I leave you.

~


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