it hovers briefly
before taking off
this spirit
with damaged wings
in sad flight
making its way
home
to you
homeward bound
Hastily Composed on the Mo-ling Road by Wang An-shih
The harvest ripe, the farmers rejoice;
in the autumn wind the traveler alone grieves.
On and on winds this crooked road
and a homeward horse in the slanting sun.
translated by Jan. W. Walls
on the LIRR
1
the blonde
two seats away
saying to her friend
I love Italian people too
but you have to appreciate
the differences
I just got over him
and I know if I went
to that house
I’d start seeing him
again
I get weak
in the knees
just thinking
about it
2
Saturday night
homeward bound
among swarms
of young LIers
heading in
to the city
they have recently
discovered
behaving typically
like young people
men with six-packs
women in short skirts
the din louder
than a Stones’ concert
and this one-time resident
wishing
he was home
several thousand miles
away
from Lady Midnight Songs of the Four Seasons: Autumn 2
Wild geese set out for their southlands,
and city-bred swallows wing northward.
If you’ve lost your way, my far-off love,
just follow the autumn wind back home.
translated by David Hinton
The River Han by Tu Mu
Rich and full, all surging swells and white gulls in flight,
it flows springtime deep, its green a crystalline dye for robes.
Going south and coming back north, you grow older, older.
Late light lingers, farewell to a fishing boat bound for home.
translated by David Hinton
a tanka: vanishing breed
ancient dinosaur
too sensitive for this world
with regret in heart
goes lumbering off to lie
with his own vanishing breed
