Roughside

       for Li Po

a wooden table a wooden chair
Li Po translated in front of a window
overlooking an ash tree
thrice as tall now as then
already as high as farmhouse eaves
seldom movement below
in the valley beyond
except birds, deer, an adder disturbed

at night one lamp two miles away
a farm beyond The Bower
otherwise darkness except moonlight
starlight 
rough moorland 
best planted with pulpable fir trees
the Forestry Commission decided

Li Po admiring the brushwork
of earlier poets 
only a copier not a copyist
working from an anthology
of an earlier tradition

a view from the window above 
across plantation trees 
not yet high enough to spoil views
of tree-lined Chirdon Burn 

translated by Sen
rearranged by endless revision 
alone at Roughside

once there was music
once there were friends
we didn’t feel outdone by Bob Dylan
less popular than Rod McKuen
we were all friends
once upon a time
back then


Dick Russell (copyright) 2023
      Richard M. Russell