Death is just a crook

When sleepless I composed these lines of verse   

as if playing chess pieces blind

carefully moving words   no phrase too terse

to check the flow   like paring apple rind

in a curling helix-like state of mind

time like a spring

compresses dreams into plaited strands that bind to 

positions played long ago   ticking

into eternity   self to play thus going

on

awake I review these lines and

plumb those pools of reverie I fished

with barbless hooks that caught not what I wished

but snagged seaweed in my subconscious mind

detritus of times forgotten times missed

when brash and bold once long ago   unkind

memories from long ago flicker 

coffee’d    pick up the threads of life

the mind must clear    must curl up in its nook

to comprehend in absences mistook

more often than silence is   as meaningful

that life plays to win   death is just a crook

in the road   seen moves ahead by careful

players who know a void is a void is annul

© Dick Russell, 2013. 2023

Bringing in the Wine

did you not see

water cascade from the sky 

the Yellow River will surge straight to the sea

never return

did you not see

a person stare sadly at a mirror

counting their white hairs

morning is as green as spring grass

soon night comes

snow covers the grass 

do you not see

we must not be sad

never let our goblets go empty

why was I born

if no use exists for me?

what point would there be

if that should be true?

bring in more wine

if I spend all my wealth

each gold coin will come rolling back

roast a sheep   slaughter a cow

let's drink at the least 300 glasses

to you Sen    a toast

& to you Tang Chin

drink up my friends

don't let me see your goblets stand idle

I'll sing you a song

so listen intently

what is there left apart from wine

I only want to get drunk

never again be sober

saints and scholars are all forgotten

only those drinkers remain

Prince Chen paid ten thousand crowns

for 1 cask of fine wine

he banqueted in the palace of perfection

how come mine host that you tell us

all your money is spent?

I'll sell my best horse   the best of my furs

my servant shall scour the town

to bring in more wine

so drink up my friends!

we shall drown the sorrows of 10,000 generations

if we don't drink now

how will we ever appease our grief

Li Po

T'ang Dynasty

translated by David Sen, Dick Russell

        Chapman Chinese Issue, Scotland, 1972

Coda:  Those Songs

(And Li Po also died drunk

trying to embrace a moon

in the Yellow River

Ezra Pound)

The words of those songs would be hollow

if my love of your company was not in them

those songs would be cold

like snow on frozen mountains

where torchlight never comes

clouds sail after you

what will life be now you drift downstream

leaving the moon moored here?

snowflakes fall on this poem

Dick Russell

Chapman Dick Russell Issue, 1975

 Endless Yearning

by Li Po

i

I endlessly yearn 
like a lone cricket 
left chirping by the well
defying autumn

there will be a morning frost
my bedding is cold
just one lantern in my room
hung high 
its shadows
flicker  
mock me   
making me more sad

at the window
we both look at the same moon
even though you are far away
beyond reach

could I but grasp that yellow flower 
touch its beauty in the dark sky
its light kissing this realm so fertile
watered by such restless rivers

my soul is troubled
dreams grow weary
I think of insurmountable mountains
between us 
impossible even to dream
endless this longing
it’s breaking my heart

ii

flowers like lanterns
in the evening mist
where the sun sets slowly

then a bright moon
like a piece of white silk

I wanted to take it
to dab away my tears

I cannot sleep

I played songs on a harp
about lovers like us

then I took a two-stringed lute
each string faithful to the other
its melodies so sad
if only you could hear

you are so far away
who can carry my feelings to you?
who can bridge this ocean between us?

open skies have shut their doors on us
my eyes once sparkling
now deep wells of tears
if you doubt how my heart aches
return to me and see just how I look in this mirror

Li Po

translated by David Sen 
interpreted by Dick Russell
copyright © Dick Russell 2014