Dance

Rain, not falling,
     dances on the windows.
Birds, in pairs, stagger through wind.
The song echoes, caught between waves.

O, dancing! O, dancing!
Profound motion!
How could we still be sad?
And what still aches?

Defeated, time loses its beat,
Humble descends in eternity
No more hurry,
     No more death.
We can wait awhile with hands outstretched,
With the birds, smooth arch in the sky,
With the slow rain
     trickling on the windows.

The moon's body

Sweet air drifted over the deep river --
A flagrance that grew wild and dark.
It flowed forth from the breast of the moon
     bowing over us,

From time to time lighting up
The river's bare belly,
And, as gone from the living,
Your face.

Blind bird

Like a blind bird shooting out into the light,
Like a thirsty flower
Under heavy hail,
Like a jar with no wine --
Overturned at the feet,
Like a dead swan on the water,
Like a linen cloth left behind in a closet,
A traveling leaf,
I'm turning back home.

My golden books
Are heavy
With dust and with time,
The rooms are empty,
My bed unmade,
The trees with no fruit,
The fire forsaken.