for Maureen in Maine seeing snow for the first time in many decades: Ch’ing P’ing Lyrics by Li Po

Waking in the gallery
at dawn, and told it’s snowing,

I raise the blinds and gaze into pure good fortune.
Courtyard steps a bright mirage of distance,

kitchen smoke trails light through flurried skies,
and the cold hangs jewels among whitened grasses.

Must be heaven’s immortals in a drunken frenzy,
grabbing cloud and grinding it into white dust.

translated by David Hinton

5 thoughts on “for Maureen in Maine seeing snow for the first time in many decades: Ch’ing P’ing Lyrics by Li Po

    • She’s my oldest friend (over 60 years) and just moved from LA (she’s lived in California since the 70s ) to Maine to be near her daughter sosnow is still a novelty for her. This poem ca potures what she’s said in her email.

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