chinese love poetry, again

sand imagevalentine’s day week … more love … and like every year, a chinese love poem. this time it’s contemporary, by eddie tay

cold wind

there is a cold wind
rising at 3 a.m.,
and here i am
on this furtive pavement of men,
haunting the night for you.

for months, the wine
spilled upon your thigh
was sweet against my tongue,
and i am now shaking
and shaking to learn
more of you.

i think i saw your feet
yesterday morning by the curb;
i know the curve of your heels,
but the sun was rising,
and i was a cold creature
shuffling by the road,
hiding among litters of leaves.

i was afraid
you would forget me,
like the words you forget
when you read,
or the clock you forget
when you glance at it
to check the time.

your face contains for me
an entire dream,
full of secrets of the sea
i long to drink.

among this assembly of crickets,
i think of the centuries
i’ve spent waiting for you
in the tropics, in bodies
of captains, sailors, pirates.

(here are last years’ chinese love poems: chinese love poetry, more chinese love poetry, chinese love peas)

image by jef_safi

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