Autumn Poetry

LODGED
By Robert Frost


The rain to the wind said,
"You push and I'll pelt."
They so smote the garden bed
that the flowers actually knelt,
and lay lodged --- though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.



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In my young days I never
tasted sorrow. I wanted
to become a famous poet.
I wanted to get ahead
so I pretended to be sad.
Now I am old and have known
the depths of every sorrow,
and I am content to loaf
and enjoy the clear Autumn.


Hsin Ch'i Chi
From: "Life Prayers"



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I will nurse this autumn carefully,
treat its brittleness gently,
smooth its crumbling edges, its weeping afternoons.


I will rise early and go to it,
wrap it in a soft cloth
and watch its breathing.


I will nurture this Autumn knowing
it is myelf
in a pure and golden form,
and that childlike
soft words will be brought bubbling up
to be recorded in the pattern of leaves
and the low fog coming across the bay...


Wendy Smyer Yu
From: "Life Prayers"



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AUTUMN LOVE
By Li Ch'ing Chao


Search. Search. Seek. Seek.
Cold. Cold. Clear. Clear.
Sorrow. Sorrow. Pain. Pain.
Hot flashes. Sudden chills.
Stabbing pains. Slow agonies.
I can find no peace. I drink two cups, then three bowls,
Of clear wine until I can’t
Stand up against a gust of wind.
Wild geese fly over head.
They wrench my heart.
They were our friends in the old days.
Gold chrysanthemums litter
The ground, pile up, faded, dead.
This season I could not bear
To pick them.
All alone,
Motionless at my window,
I watch the gathering shadows.
Fine rain sifts through the wu-t’ung trees,
And drips, drop by drop, through the dusk.
What can I ever do now?
How can I drive off this word —
Hopelessness?


From: "Life Prayers"



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UNRAVELING
By Marion


There are days, hours
when I lust after
Nothingness
the way
I used to lust
after Life.


I hang by a thread,
you know---
the one that holds
the proverbial garment
together.
It droops there, dangling,
that thread,
wanting me to pull
it, begging me
(I worry it with my fingernail---).
My finger itches, twitching
for that first timid tug, then
one firm yank---
and
it all
unravels.


10/28/09


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