Lines For Beckett

                          13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989

                      He who propels life forward to death

                 from April to December

                             by day    by night

                                                   for many cycles of spring

                                                                       musing

                               to blind tides  

                                         deaf skies

                     a kind man

                    with unwithered love

                               of all mankind

                                           he who propels

                                                                        a woman

                            in a wheelchair                                                            towards us

                                       she  who propels                                                             destiny

                    We hide from the knowledge in their eyes

                   we want life to go on forever

                                                                                                                  sun always shining

                                 if it rains

                                        we want a rainbow

                                      © Dick Russell, 2014

                       Song of the Palace*

                                                                by Po-Chu-Yi 

Heartbroken

hankies drenched with tears

exhausted with grief

they still cannot sleep

at the loneliest time of night

when snatches of song gust through the Palace

music throbs

walls tremble

she who is not even old

who has lost the King’s love

weeps until dawn

by damp clothes spread out to dry

by long dresses maids have laid to one side

ENVOI**

diverting attention
ripened fruit falls
caught by a mosaic floor

perfectly ripe
young women preen
she not even old wipes tiles clean

filled with remorse

a widow who sent her husband to war

to seek fame

            *translated by David Sen

            an early version published in Chapman

            Vol III, No.4 “Dick Russell” issue

            1975; Editors: Walter Perrie, Joy Hendry, R. R. Calder

            re-interpreted Dick Russell © 2014

            **copyright © Dick Russell 2014