The Alchemist
In the heavy robes, embroidered brightness, clouds
Perfumed hibiscus reds deep in greenery
Mountain scenery, water
Falling, all, stitched into the cape
I stare and stare, remembering songbird notes
A caged crane released
Sleepy dusk
Spring
A vaulted chamber echoing rain
To Secretary Liu
In those times your army, old hands every one
Made roads to march down
Singing soldier songs
In March, in driving rain
Fording Fenchuan River
Or by the Junshui
With June’s countryside in flower
Times change, from horizon to horizon
Land won with spears is walled
Dusty farms, no curfews now
People talking past midnight
Old battlefields grassed over
The guests snoozing drunk on the lawn
I set aside my writing materials as verses appear
From nowhere
The characters rising off the parchment
Bright fish
Scattered images on water
At Washing-Yarn
Temple
Warlords grind their weapons, position armies
Who triumphs now
Who falls
No one knows
Xi Shi
We smile just thinking about her
Such a lovely girl
Old soldiers face-down in mud
The hermit Fan Li
The martyr Wu Xu, all played their parts
Breaking states
We are near Zhuji, a place named after the great river
Our blue mountain known
Since early times
Where a beautiful woman was born
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