Wednesday, 27 July 2016

Relic Environments Trilogy: Book I, Part 2. vii-ix

from Book I, Part 2, Revelations of a Lesser Wife 



The Peony Seller



Spring coming



The wind counts the petals one by one

The peonies gone over



Such longing    



No offers for these wilted ones

Red ripe scents even butterflies refuse



The dust

The dew not grasping these leaves

Waxy, hothouse greens

Imperial gardens coveting such stems



Grafting rarer



Too late then, my lords

Your digging deeper


 
On Receiving a Gift from the Scholar Li




In the high pavilion I arrange your gift    

Unroll woven reeds



Just sitting here

The river nearby



Water memory         



I send in return      

Clouds, cirrus fan

I cannot tell what value    



Only now, this autumn

From our silver sleep I think of you



Setting out so early                  

                       

 
  Love Letter to Li Zian

   I perform rituals with ice, cork bark
   But nothing makes sense

   Again and again, dreaming of Jinshui River

   Huguan Pass

   The mirror Qin Jing gave me
   Will soon be in pieces

   Magpies spiral down

   What message from the swans
   That the Emperor’s zither remains tuned

   The autumn rain on paulownia leaves makes mournful sounds

   My lamp light flutters at the window

   These letters written to you across great distances
   How shall I know they reach you

   Between the river banks, wide blue, this length of bamboo

   Not reaching




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