Hoàng-Ân
WINTER PREPARATION
......................................................................
(for NguoiChet of Nhạc Death)
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Golden threads, red gossamer
Dragons, birds of paradise and
Black mums of chrysanthemums
Aching green ferns and weeping willows
Yellow bamboos with pandas clinging among
the patient eucalypt branches:
The cloth I weaved to sew thee thy coat.
winter is coming
on the dripping clouds
blurring the horizon between
secret worlds.
i am waiting with equanimity
such is your image in me..!!
respect is delicate and hard
to understand in the integrity
of the performance.
Sweet violets paint the fields
Lavender blooms bleed innocently into the seasons
Deep wisdom of purple sunset clouds
Into a loom I feed my empathy and love
of ancient colors and court designs
For a coat for you to
keep You warm
When outside the north wind laid waste the garden.
(3:45 AM, Thursday, November 6th, 2003)
WILLIAM THOMPSON (1712-1766)
THE HAPPY LIFE
A book, a friend, a song, a glass,
A chaste, yet laughter-loving lass,
To mortals various joys impart,
Inform the sense, and warm the heart.
Thrice happy they, who careless laid
Beneath a kind-embowering shade,
With rosy wreaths their temples crown,
In rosy wine their sorrow drown.
Begone, ambition, riches, toys,
And splendid cares, and guilty joys--
Give me a book, a friend, a glass,
And a chaste, laughter-loving lass.
