A Hai Zi Poem

Facing The Ocean, Where Spring Flowers Blossom


Starting tomorrow I will be a happy man.
Take care of horses. Chop firewood. Travel around the world.
Starting tomorrow, I will provide myself with what I need to live.
I will have a house. It will face the ocean, where the spring flowers blossom.
Starting tomorrow, I'll write letters to everyone I love
Telling them how happy I am. 
This happiness hit me like a bolt of lightning. What it told me
I will tell everyone.
And give every river and every mountain a goodhearted name.
Strangers: I wish you well.
I hope you have a brilliant future.
I hope you find true love.
I hope you have a happy life.
I only hope to face the ocean, where the spring flowers blossom.


(1989) Tr. Zachary Mexico, 2012

POEM: "To My Future Lover (2)"

To My Future Lover
                                                
                                        after A. de Saint-Exupéry


Was I dishevelled in a mirage
where desire, unkindled limit
was a kiss that didn't matter
in the night ocean of those days
was I fearsome as a pilot waking
to a smoke and a slow brandy
delinquent of my own concerns
(every animal and its own smell)
and it never mattered love was
shadows or the sun did not light
each caress or that time would not
search for the fine wreckage?


© 2012 Rob Schackne