I cross the river to pluck hibiscus,
In the orchid marsh, many scented plants.
I pluck, but whom should I give them to?
For my love resides in a distant land.
Turning my head, I look toward home,
Along that vast and endless road.
Our hearts are one, yet we dwell apart,
Worrying and grieving till we grow old.
longing
a poem after Tu Fu
a breeze off the ocean
sand between my toes
a shadow of a dog chases a wave
and I stand hands in pockets
the pier off to my left
the sound of the carousel
still in my ears
here in a city without angels
looking for a few people
I used to know
Apprentice Wanted by Refik Durbaş
My hands have a gift for art, Master
My language for cursing, my heart for pain
Is death all I get
All I get, Master?
Which way is love, Master
Which way is grief
Is solitude all I get
All I get, Master?
Which way is away, Master
Which way is home
Is longing all I get
All I get, Master?
translated by Şehnaz Tahir-Gürçağlar
untitled poem by Nazim Hikmet
Snow closed the road
you weren’t there
kneeling and facing you
I gazed at your face
with my eyes closed.
Ships won’t sail, planes won’t fly
you weren’t there
across from you I was leaning on the wall
I spoke and spoke and spoke
without opening my mouth.
You weren’t there
I touched you with my hands
my hands were on your face.
translated by Talat S. Halman
Cassia Flowers by Li Ch’ing-chao
The twisted limbs break
Into ten thousand flecks of gold,
On layer upon layer of carved jade leaves,
Fresh and bright as the grace of Yen Fu.
The heaps of plum petals seem vulgar.
The lilacs seem coarse and contorted.
Your perfume has broken into
My sorrowful dream of the one
A thousand miles away,
And left me drained of emotion.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth & Ling Chung
Untitled Poem by Lady Akazome Emon
I should not have waited.
It would have been better
To have slept and dreamed,
Than to have watched night pass,
And this slow moon sink.
Untitled Poem by Yamabe No Akahito
I wish I were close
To you as the wet skirt of
A salt girl to her body.
I think of you always.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
On An Autumn Night by Sung I-kyo
Wild geese trail cold shrieks
and pass beyond the mountain walls.
I awake from a lonely dream of you;
my window is lit by the autumn moon.
translated by Kim Jong-gil
untitled poem by the Japanese Emperor Yozei (reigned 877-884)
Falling from the ridge
Of high Tsukuba,
The Minano River
At last gathers itself,
Like my love, into
A deep, still pool.
Untitled Poem by Yamabe No Akahito
The mists rise over
The still pools at Asuka.
Memory does not
Pass away so easily.
Asuka gawa
Kawa yodo sarazu
Tatsu kiri no
Omoi sugu beki
Koi ni aranaku ni
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Leonard Durso 