MOLECULAR
2000
Pillow
Crushed
By the heady might
Of slumber
Countenance sublime
Silent before the
Melody of morning.
The Fan
Papery opponent
You adorn her smile as
She poses with a certain ease
Swift strokes
Excite the air and flutter
Over lips of damson
Breathing zephyr
Across caressed cheeks
Boast no more.
Hope-struck
~~~
Take your time
My very dear, in making your reply
Splendid, I must say
You are most generous with words
A shame you
Cannot even spell my name.
Giselle
~~~
Minx; eyes bound shut
Hands, soft that you bring
Are playful with a feline elegance
Crystalline gaze
Falls upon unread features
Silent whispers turn to brutal panting
I am yours to keep
Wounded by your venom.
Amarantos I
~~~
The moon manipulates
Gestures flake
As thoughts remake
The composition of a face
Tonight, we shall stay unnamed.
Amarantos II
~~~
The ungainly moon
Has come and gone, many a time
Tonight, we shall stay unnamed.
Soma
~~~
Reminiscences
Of childhood
Colour another year
Of inconstant seasons
That escape unto
The broken sky.
Framed and Antique
~~~
Window of the past
Element of the present
Long hair covered my left eye
I was very different indeed.
Into the Twilight
~~~
Flying round and round
In a moonlit paradise
While others, hand in hand
Take to their jovial flight.
Hermes
~~~
Caduceus on the left
Message on the right
Make peace with the sky
Upon Zephyra’s back.
Solace
~~~
Primary orb
Dances in the shallow
Oscillates between
Our reflection
Guides the night
Toward gentle dawn
Rootless along
The willow bank
We follow her home
And bid farewell
To the depths and
Fading constellations.
Hindenberg
~~~
O, transient sun
Thou hastily become
Illuminates this somnolent night
With fellow Hesperus afar.
Courting
~~~
Lucent like the night sky
Every lamp that flickers below
Its mate in the twinkling lustre
Flickers back with reticence.
Existentia
~~~
Her silence
Is minimal
Fractures impressions
Of time
Her existence
Becomes an allegory
Of possibility.
Salome
~~~
Maiden of the final wish
That taketh away the head of the Baptist
Into the salacious night
You dance with celerity till morn.
Emotional Landscape
~~~
Dusk invades in pink
As it winds across the open
Valley of red beyond
Beneath twin-peaked moons
Sculpts an imitation of love.
Spring Snow
~~~
Fleeing beneath my feet
A golden garb of begonias
Breathes anew a life worn old
By the whirring of time.
Unconquered
~~~
Sapphire trees
Pierce the hillside
North of the village
Where my heart will be.
Icy winter stream
Twists around my feet
I shall remember this place
Before absent friends meet.
The sky exhales a festive breath
That flushes my cheeks
Unwavering, eyes close
As nature retreats.
To the Matador
~~~
I am the flesh
That you will tear
Take my soul
Home to your family.
Playing this game
A will of yours.
Applaud graciously
My death.
Self-portrait
~~~
Beyond the stagnant pond
Distant birds much closer now
The clapping wings
To soft ears deafening
I find my way back
To the stillness of this effigy.
Beyond the Martello
~~~
Darkness paling
Rising rays of gold seep
Through the early gauze
Engulf the temporal delay
Of a tide’s withdrawal.
Old Wall
~~~
The wind of
A thousand offsprings
Batters against the face
Of a barren scar
Tired sinews unearthed
Rays of gold seep
Through clefts of time
O, wrinkled face.
Shaoxing Revisited
~~~
Minding your own business
You hold your breath as you pass
Beneath the intruding homesteads
Subdued and seaward bound
Dynastical sun, with one eye shut
Behests a silent passing.
The Vestige
~~~
Half-awake, half-dreaming
A watchful eye takes vigil
Itself, half devoured
A cake in the night sky.
The Ailing Effendi
~~~
Reclined in thought
Brittle shards of morn
Reigns afar, but ends
At these wounded walls.
Juda
~~~
When did wanton affection
Appear on the scene?
The air exhales the word of love
But we are no Adam and Eve.
The Pavilion at Wuji
~~~
The arresting tune
Through heavy branches
Swollen blossoms
Sway to her melody while
Spring's aroma
Fills my room with ambiguity.
Her Last in Hiragana
~~~
Drifting verses
Embrace the drying papyrus
Every word bears
Her movement, her smile.
Halo
~~~
The heart, unkempt
As dust falls to earth again
What once was life
Now ends well.
Khersonesos
~~~
Dawn breaks over jade hills
A veteran breeze steers
As the cries of wild geese
Deciphers the myth of Aeolus.
Jezebel
~~~
Body of landscape
Clings delicately on the canvas
Decadent colours conceive
The lightness of air
As it cradles her berceuse
A final breath
Delivers the final stroke.
Siva
~~~
Sweet fluid passes
Through flesh-gates
As words of comfort unite
They hold no cure for death.
Lotus
~~~
A soft stroke
On its balmy skin
The faint impress
Of a past lover.
Morte Della Vergine
~~~
Tears fall unto the robe
As they chant ‘Kurie eleeson’
The absent moon in silent prayer
Breaths exhaled in the air
Sink the abating night.
Solus I
~~~
Rival heart
Unguarded, it fell prey to thee.
Solus II
~~~
Enchanted, once, by a princely tongue
How I cherish the unimposing night.
Withering Glow
~~~
A fin sways in the calmness
Dances to the euphony of song
This is the final dance
Quietly she takes her leave.
Saltarelo
~~~
The heartbeat
The battering of drums
Impetuosity
The furore of stampede.
Love, Transcendental
~~~
Night surpasses day
Without a whisper
Awake beneath
A semiprecious cloth
My elegy drifts
Into the openness
Leaves me bare
As it leaves me for good.
With Child
~~~
Beyond the veil of obscurity,
Eleven candles bear my flame.
The Siren of Efes
~~~
O, hallowed grove of mulberry
Haven to this pillar of faith
A distant silhouette greets the rising sun
To the tune of a piccolo.
Yard
~~~
Her russet shadow
On glacial-white marble
Confronts an infant morn
That rejuvenates
A matrimonial legacy.
Giacommetti's Waif
~~~
With a breath
You hide behind your kin
Emotionless before the fading crowd
Stoic to my vestigial sigh.
Noontide
~~~
Eyes closed
Words lay adrift
Tired petioles invite
Autumn's flurry.
Midniht
~~~
Fair temptress
Pregnant with the night
Resplendent with jewels
Robed in white.
Untaken
~~~
In the night and
In the early morn
I wander alone
Without the usual
Staged emotions
Trees whisper
To one another
And the air fills
With ancient stories
Days of loneliness
Taketh this very path home.
Reuel
~~~
On the garden rock
Beside young irises
I sing an ode to my
Lady Ourania
She calls, I follow her
Down to the waterfall
Before this night ends
I shall ask if she would stay.
Lethe
~~~
Emerald river
Tear-filled and majestic
Rises beneath the moon
Engulfs me and captures
The lesser constellations
I shall come again soon.
Thalia
~~~
In the day she follows my shadow
By night she takes her leave
A waking kiss before Venus descends
And leaves as swiftly as the dew.
Zebulun
~~~
Stale hours
Reap these moments
Plum blossoms lay
Restless on the ground
The storm is near; here
I shall wait for my calling.
Kisma
~~~
In the old courtyard I wander
Amidst pale chrysanthemums
They sway obediently before
The swirling dust heaps
A worthy wind carries with it
A song from Yan Yee
I smile and sing to myself.
The Frowning
~~~
The two of us
Here again
Shrouded by
Pale November
As the uneven sky
Surrenders to the rain
We follow the
Clouds home.
Mousa
~~~
The damp shroud has ascended
Breathing is twice as adamant
Morning has forsaken all glory
Time no longer harbours itself.
Sweet Rising
~~~
Scent of morning
Lingers by my side
Her silken skin
Warm to my caress
Though ‘tis only the
Sunshine that greets me.
Oath
~~~
As the sol begins to warm
Childish pleasures envelop me
The faint echo of Sherah’s song
Remains my secret of the valley
I close my eyelids
Before the ebony clouds return.
Moon-love
~~~
Descending rays
Gold between sweeping shrouds
The pelage of dusk
Becomes our quilt.
Slow Time
~~~
Simple needs
Stroke the skin of a harsh reality
Along with the early frost
All faith and self is lost.
Ascent
~~~
The crouching boughs
Of a hundred summers
Laden with gifts from
Aeolus.
With thoughts carried
Into the tenth hour
Daybreak comes
Too soon.
Venetian Mirror
~~~
The crystal water imitates
The splendour of matrimony
Day waives herself to Night
I, too, will yield to you.
Jeunesse Doree
~~~
The early light
The shielded prayers
In stillness she sits
With wandering eyes
Alas, he counts the
Thunder alone.
Eve
~~~
Flowers in the snow
Girls in lush lilac; all
In line with the march
Fresh lips of petal glow
Before the gathering crowd
The sun is late in revisiting
But all is well, these
Clouds are leaving.
Ayen
~~~
Another recited prayer
Begins another day
A walk in the park reminds me
That I am still young
Another half-hearted contention
And already time for bed.
Advent
~~~
Ancient burial grounds yonder
The sunken fields chant their names
With hollow hands
Her eyes pursue a barren land.
Labour of Love
~~~
The conversations
The cheering
The repose of the night
Rhythm of the hours
Draws to an end
Before an early awakening.
Without Obligation
~~~
Eyes of youth
Devoted to beauty
Every minute
Without vestige.
Each day and
Another page turned
Looking back, what
Lessons have I learned?
Amaranthus Caudatus
~~~
Drawn to soft whispers
Conquered by a kiss
Stranger to the feeling
Yet truly possessed
Icons of youth
Leave me wandering
Who I am.
Unity of Nature
~~~
Toward the light
Our spirits turn
Spring’s bloom
Frays majestically.
Narcissus Poeticus
~~~
Sunlit dream wakes to the morn
Hues of yellow and crimson
Competes with the sky
The gentle wind from the lake
Bears the scent of currant
As I let it bathe my face
I ponder over my duty as son.
In the Arms of Consciousness
~~~
Their backs against my passing gaze
Silence fills the air; mouths dry
Words no longer define meaning
Yet here I sit, able to think poetically.
I, Joseph
~~~
White leather shoes
Already stained by the rain
This is my story
Beautifully tragic.
Anon
~~~
Gently the curtain falls
And a brighter scene
Shines through
As the shore welcomes the tide
My trail disappears
My face feels the
Breath of daybreak.
Too Far
~~~
Looking back
The days were long
Now, the mornings wane
Into an unusual azure
Without its usual trace.