there in the air
it lingers tenaciously
even after parting
only the scent
of you my love
long long it hovers
covers me
other writing
from a line by Lu Yu: white hair
no turning back
white hair to brown
no losing years
or shedding experiences
we carry them with us
the lines on the face
the white hair on the head
like badges signifying
campaigns won and lost
a lifetime here
in white hair
ah sunshine
ah sunshine
my arms ache
for your warmth
come fill me
sunshine
I am open
waiting for you
following a thought of Su T’ung-p’o: this flower
this flower enchants
yet it too will fade
to crumble to dust
although gone
from this world
not from my mind
my heart
there remaining as beautiful
as before
those red heels
there were those red heels
three inches high
and the dress
to match
floating discreetly
above your knees
an image
I take with me
wherever it is
I go
character: fate
there are some things
in life
you cannot avoid
and fate
is one of them
for fate is defined
by character
and character
is fate
not so briefly
there was no way
of knowing
then
of what of where of why
to follow
nor the debris
left behind
in your passing
not so briefly
in my life
from a line by Wang Po: for Mike Harrison
where the road forks
my feet went left
yours right
decades past
miles seas continents apart
lost to each other
now found again
where the roads meet
in space
thinking of a line by Tu Fu
no easy task
shaking the dust
from one’s eyes
from one’s heart
these emails
these emails
that are voices
from the past
refresh both joy
and sorrow
oh friends oh lovers
long buried here
in my memory
your words
echo long
within the chambers
of what is left
of my heart
Leonard Durso 