The new year hovers on the river -
silk fan brushed with wispy curls
of infant cirrus, egrets
and white peonies against Ming blue.
A girl unfurls to Chinese music,
fluid movements of her limbs
calligraphy devised for bodies,
reconciling yang and yin.
Above her floats a flange of moon,
buoyant as a parachute
that might have lowered her from heaven's
lotus pools and pearl pavilions,
emissary of harmony,
shimmering in flowing garments,
white crane spreading wings where water
courses between night and morning.
New Year's Day 2005
Pagoda
Goddesses and peonies,
persimmons and hummingbirds,
two cranes winging through a frame
of emerald, incense-laden pine,
two fishermen-philosophers
adrift upon a moonlit lake
drinking cups of fiery rice-wine
as the wily fish escape.
The sages' painted eyes are wise,
their faces creased in laughter-lines;
a lotus-maiden robed in white
floats upon a pad of jade;
another in a roseate gown,
seated on a flying crane,
holds a heart-shaped lotus bud
in slender calyxes of hands.
The octagon's high-pointed crown
gives shelter from the sun and rain;
those who contemplate its niches
see what pleasures they contain.
02.01.05