Two Poets In China, 744 AD
How did all these voices get into me
A moon with 2 faces, one of them useless
A poet who looked like a servant, a butcher
A street sweeper, a sweetheart, a burglar
A poet to be a horse’s ass, two poets to be us
A glass of wine, wrinkled clothes, the smiles
How do you ever know what someone knows
Waving at the children, this parade of river
Skipping along, the old crossing, the leap year
And one of them was a wrong one, a murderer
And one was alright (he looked mentally defective)
They were dear to me, I travelled with them both.
© 2016 Rob Schackne
The canny amongst you will know that the two poets are Li Bai and Du Fu, of the Tang Dynasty. Those were horrible times, of course, and everyone required useful friendships. Perhaps not useful in the modern sense that you'll make money out of it, but useful in that your soul will be enriched. Makes you think of the countless friendships in the literary world that have helped drive all those things to you.
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