Uplifting spring

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My Picture: Sanquan Medical Collage, Xinxiang, China.

A little boy looked at my hair
and asked me

“Why are you so old?”

A trick philosophical question from one so young.

Short sun in cold winter white,
I pulled out a small strand of grey hair,
going the same way.
Exchanging looks with the boy,
we smiled for a selfie.

A snow blanket mountain,
something tiny and whole and
the power of allure.
A soul with wings
and freedom felt in spring’s fresh lace.

Alive

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My Picture: Part of railway that took Chinese prisoners to Unit 731: a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development wing of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. 

Humanity’s gift, a creation by love.
A life of spirit, branches, leaves, water.
Sailing in the sky and pardoned centuries ago.
For there is no core to throw away.

Words whirring over wide plains
Somewhere else, somewhere here
beyond the reach of your presence.
Already forgotten and born again.

Stillness

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My picture of a photograph I took in Vietnam celebrating the role of women in the history of this country.

saying nothing
has become part of the English language
held by it
like flashbacks in a forest

across the tables
conversations grinding away
a petal falls
and the afternoon drifts along

when I look up
migrating birds show the way
giving loneliness
in the taste of white peach

Understanding

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A picture sent to me by a friend in England.

I talked with my friend from Anyang this morning.
Upon a background of fading moonlight,
and recalling times gone by.

Once, we both had pure and romantic hopes… and lost them someplace.
You walk…. I walk.

Now there remains a heart in deep sadness….. estranged from this yellow land.

So I sent her a daffodil, from England…..
to pull along her threads of worries
and clean up these ancient wounds.

Somewhere over here

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A picture sent to me by a friend in Harbin, China. Northern China is experiencing late winter snow……..

Everybody run, run, run…..
a friend told me about death today.
Already naked
my dreams go wandering.
A vast empty autumn night
…..my very own constellation.

It reached the clouds in the sky,
an empty sickbed
and impotent doctors…..
watching the clock dial glow.

I awoke before the end,
a split second spirit.
And cast a cold eye….
I will not sell death today.

Midnight Road

My Pictures

During this time and through it all,
falling free from a lazy sky.
A sole evening star glows to the left,
overlapping the trouble I’ve seen.

The armies of the day, a mirror …..
reflect soft seeds of spreading hope.
Across the towering Taihang Mountains,
reigning heights….. echoed by a silent sound.

Now warming lights blink sober red,
and gather in the throat.
A voice that strives to strike the senses dumb,
floods its beauty to the sky.

Afterglow

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My Picture: A accident on the way home this evening…our coach hit a car…all is well…but the fragility of life is all around us.

He sung this song

Sometimes I feel like a motherless child….. a long way from home…..

It took me back…..

Apples….. bruised apples

late October’s final song

an old dog by a cracking fire

nursed toward a loving light

grasping at the sky

even your life is tender

And then the call is made

a dull material world

numbed by mouth

and the song…..

‘call my brother…….’

How to spend a Sunday

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A picture sent to me by a friend yesterday.

Before sleeping I often consider
what I would do, what to be the next day.

Shall I be a mother, beautiful and delicious… flying kites in the park
as the sun sets on another unrequited day?

Shall I be a teacher, not much interested in another awakening
of a long dead language to come?

Shall I be a writer trying to meet others as lonely as myself?

Sometimes there is a strange justice, working for something….

So, I marked some English papers…..
I am exactly what I am supposed to be.

Marriage is a life of sharing/婚姻是共享的人生

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My Picture: My friends sister was married today…I was invited to the wedding ( I also know the bride and groom )…they asked me to write a poem for their wedding day…it was a challenge. So…I wrote this poem,  it was translated into Chinese…and then they asked me to read the poem on stage…..which I did… with a translator repeating my words in Chinese for the audience…and then I presented them a typed framed version of the poem as a gift   A wonderful day….and a wonderful experience for me.

Love is a great thing
it makes what is heavy light,
and shines the darkest street.
Never satisfied, it burns and burns
and shakes the sky.

All the rivers sound on this day,
that lonely isolation a distant road.
A journey…that is proposed now
fills the house, and makes the moon dance.

And the crowds weep and laugh,
to see such love strike away the chains
of memories from our souls…….
now joined in permanent commitment.

Leo named Jessie his queen,
her youth and beauty at the highest temple.
And Jessie named Leo her knight,
accustomed to courage and flush of love’s light.

And this love will endure; they want to live like trees.
Yulan magnolia blazing through the cobalt sky,
dappled with colour .
Exuberantly budding, year after year
gentle and passionate.

 

爱情是伟大的
它赋予沉重以轻松,
给昏暗的街道以光亮。
永无止境,不断燃烧
甚至震撼整个苍穹。

今天的河流俱为之咆哮,
昨日的单身岁月已然远去。
一段旅程……从今日起便要踏上
将这里填满幸福,月亮也为之欢欣起舞。

人们感动落泪,开怀大笑,
因为看到爱情打破了往昔的锁链
冲破了灵魂的枷锁……
现在汇成了永久的承诺。

Leo让Jessie做了他的女王,
Jessie青春年华,美丽灿烂。
Jessie将Leo变成了她的骑士,
Leo勇敢无畏,热情洋溢。

他们的爱会永恒; 就像树一样去生活吧。
好似玉兰树在钴蓝色天空中绽放,
充斥着它色彩的斑驳。
旺盛萌芽,年复一年
温柔而又充满激情。

China dream

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My Picture

A dog watches me,
across a busy road
across our age and
difference.

Tree-by-tree,
the winter fog fades.
By song alone,
a spot of sunlight.

When I hear it,
I’m older now.
The wind that brought me
here, goes on.
Surrounding my bones.