ancient dinosaur
too sensitive for this world
with regret in heart
goes lumbering off to lie
with his own vanishing breed

like Cortez my ships
were burned just after landing
behind me the sea
in front an empty landscape
which way do I choose to go

Stories of passions make sweet dust,
Calm water, grasses unconcerned.
At sunset, when birds cry in the wind,
Petals are falling like a girl’s robe long ago.

translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu

in the glint
of your eyes
the hint
of a smile
on those full lips
one hand caressing
your hair
the other firmly placed
on a hip
the tilt of your shoulders
almost a shrug
there
here
the promise
of things to come

I understand
you’ve found God
and now work for the cult
that gave Him to you
I wish you luck
but am not interested in membership
you see
I never had to find God
He was always there
with me

End of page,
end of this

company–wee
notebook kept

my mind in hand,
let the world stay

open to me
day after day,

words to say,
things to be.

music fills the room
there is whiskey in the glass
shadows on the walls
memories haunt restless minds
this mind won’t rest till morning

The world is never
any more than just this—
I knew it all along,
but an aching heart
is still hard to bear.

translated by Ian Hideo Levy