The Middlewesterner

AFTER LU YOU'S
"I WANT TO GO OUT
BUT IT'S RAINING"

An east wind
blows rain, enough
to bother

the wanderer.
The whole road's
a mess, mud

where there
had been dust.
The flowers

and willows
are sleepy-
eyed. Spring

itself seems
sluggish.
And -- who knew --

your poet
is even
more lazy.

~

AFTER WANG WEI'S
"BAMBOO GROVE"

I sit here alone
among the dark trees,

strumming my guitar,
singing. The forest

is deep and no one
can hear me. The moon

is my only friend.

~

AFTER WEI YING-WU'S
"AUTUMN NIGHT:
A LETTER SENT TO CH'IU"

Autumn and night.
I am thinking
of you. I am

walking, speaking
to stars. In the
empty mountains

pine cones fall. Am
I the only
one still awake?

~

AFTER LI PO"S
"HEARING THE FLUTE
IN THE CITY OF LOYANG
IN A SPRING NIGHT"

Whose jade flute
sings in darkness

riding spring wind
across the city?

Hearing that tune
who would not

long for home?

~

AFTER LI YU'S
"THE BEAUTIFUL LADY YU"

Spring flowers,
an autumn moon.

Where does it end?
What do we know?

Last night again
an east wind

under bright moon.
I couldn't bear

to think of home,
house still lovely,

the people old now.
How much sorrow

can we carry?
Life is a river

flowing away.

~