there
on my heart
indelibly etched
an image
you
and nothing
can ever make it fade
or disappear
love poem
in my arms a hollow spot
I found this place
for you
in my arms
a hollow spot
where only you
fit
untitled poem by Fujiwara No Yoshifusa
The years have touched me.
I worry that I grow frail with age.
But I only need to see
Your flower like beauty
For all anxiety and heaviness
To leave me.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
much like my heart
there the moon
refusing to leave
the morning sky
much like my heart
a hovering love
above the streets
where you walk
untitled love poem by Li Shang-yin
Coming was an empty promise, you have gone, and left no footprints:
The moonlight slants above the roof, already the fifth watch sounds.
Dreams of remote partings, cries which cannot summon,
Hurrying to finish the letter, ink which will not thicken.
The light of the candle half encloses kingfishers threaded with gold,
The smell of musk comes faintly through embroidered water-lilies.
Young Liu complained that Fairy Hill is far.
Past Fairy Hill, range above range, ten thousand mountains rise.
translated by A.C. Graham
like waves
forever constant
my love
washes
on your shore
To Chloris b y Robert Burns
Ah, Chloris, since it may not be,
That thou of love wilt hear;
If from the lover thou maun flee,
Yet let the friend be dear.
Altho’ I love my Chloris, mair
Than ever tongue could tell;
My passion I will ne’er declare–
I’ll say, I wish thee well.
Tho’ a’ my daily care thou art,
And a’ my nightly dream,
I’ll hide the struggle in my heart,
And say it is esteem.
When We Finally Turn Fifty by Wang Xiaolong
We’ll be just as we are now
Kissing as we casually fix a meal
Getting by whether or not the laundry’s been done
No talking allowed during reading time
No money in the bank
Having a spat once every three days on average
Making our walk home from the movies
Deliberately long and sad
Then pretending we haven’t known each other for three whole days
So we can be especially intimate on Sundays
The weather’s getting strangely pleasant
During the night we dream with our heads stuck together
And see two small dogs
Running across the snow
When we finally turn fifty
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
Longing by Cai Qijiao
My longing for you brims with feelings of spring–
A clear flowing stream
Ripples in the foreground,
The green landscape beyond
Stretches back into the distance,
Under the quiet shadow of a cloud
Your smile is like the passage of fluttering birds.
My longing for you never rests–
As the rising moon
Skims over layer after layer of branches
You walk out from the depths of my heart
And through layer upon layer of memories
You cast radiant light on everything around me.
My longing for you comes back to reality–
On the mountain a high tower
Quiet under a hazy drizzle,
Waiting thus forever for love,
Without so much as a word
Without even hinting my intentions.
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
Memory by Cai Qijiao
An ice-cold river encircles the log hut
Whose compassionate face is staring toward me.
A tree like an umbrella shields the river
Who with windlike fingers plucks my heartstrings.
You are a bright cloud in my evening sky
While I sing you a poem about sunset.
But your songs are constellations of stars
That go on flickering deep in my soul.
My poem is merely withering leaves
Who in a warm dream laugh at thunderstorms,
But your songs are like the silence of flowers
Whose lasting fragrance scorns authority.
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
Leonard Durso 