In an Enclosed Garden with Su Dongpo, John Young Hunter,
& Charles Wright
A lull in the wind, pause
between snowfalls,
between scattered stars,
crescent moon long set.
She eats rice pudding in
bed, licks the spoon,
construes poetry instead
of sleeping.
On the wall beyond her
feet curious
birds peer from the
verdure. A lion cub
sinks his teeth into a
startled pheasant.
On the wall behind her
head, an enclosed garden,
a cherry tree - bound and
staked, blooming yet.
A woman reaches for a
peacock perched
in pink blossom, at her
hem another
spreads its golden tail,
its myriad eyes.
Nothing between one end
and the other
but time and the
centipedes of night.
SGS
© 2017
NOTE: The poem refers to Charles Wright’s poem “Time And
The Centipedes Of Night”, which itself refers to a ci poem Song Dynasty poet Su
Dongpo (AKA Su Shi) wrote to the tune “Partridge Sky.” The poem also refers to
the painting by John Young Hunter used here as an illustration. The painting
dates to between 1899 & 1910, & thus the image is in the public domain.
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