Lao Zu Temple

Deep in the mountain in the east of Hubei Province

That old monk has been sitting there

For one thousand and six hundred years

The wind comes and the wind goes

In front of the temple

The pond ebbs and flows

The grass turns green

The grass turns yellow

Time flies like wandering clouds and running water

With palms together and eyes closed

He sits in deep meditation

The cool solitude camellias at the entrance of the mountain

Are blooming the modest spirit of Zen

Morning Class

Awakening from a drunken sleep at the temple

I hear monks chanting scriptures

The night is so deep in the mountain

The cock crowing from the farm at the mountainside

Arouses my loneliness from the heart of a traveler

The scripture chanting is elegant

calm and gentle

Like the tea that mother prepared

Flowing through the throat into the stomach  

My heart is warming up

The pear blossoms are whitening to the season    

With the rhythm of scripture chanting

And the chirps of the birds

Someone is snaking his way to the top

Searching for the meaning of Zen

Food Offerings

Two coarse white porcelain bowls

A pair of chopsticks

One bowl for porridge

The other for vegetable and soup

The meal ritual is to chant scriptures

Quietly sipping and chewing the food offered

“Amitabha!” they murmured

A friend of mine couldn’t swallow the food

No matter how hard he tried

A young man helped him

to devour all his leftovers

Astonished I was and in awe

I then stood 

The Nun

What a flower of light tincture

in gray frock at the nunnery

A gracious face with shining eyes and sparkling teeth

below inch-length hair after tonsure

On a day of snowstorm

She arrived at the lonesome gate of the nunnery

What a shocking declaration she made

She wouldn’t leave until time and tide ends

She studied environmental protection in the university

And keeps on learning it at the nunnery  

In the past she learned to protect the natural environment

Now she is learning to protect the spiritual environment

The Three Kingdoms of Hanyang (Set of Poems)

Horse Washing Long Street

A clatter of hooves black and cold

Coming from Slate Street eighteen hundred years ago

Through the dust of history

Over the noise of the city great and old

Night was heavy at that time

The Red-hare Horse was like a lightning

Tearing the darkness apart

Seeing overhead the stars blinking

After a battle bloody and cold

The general  his horse rode

Coming back from the war

Looked for the pool of water with crippling  roll

The Green Dragon Crescent Blade 

was stuck in the edge of the pool

The general with a red face and a long beard 

Bent and cupped the clean water in his hand fold

Washed the dirt and blood off the precious horse

The horse neighed deep with gratitude.

Thanking the master’s heart and soul.

Lu Su’s Tombstone

You were an honest man,  

Vouching to lend Jingzhou to Liu Bei.

Yet people didn't return the land,

You fell into a pit of embarrassing sand.

Lesson learned:

Don't lend anything 

To those who eat their words

You were a man of strategy

To face Cao Cao’s 830 thousand men of brutality

They came from the north, killing all the way

Lord Wu’s troops wanted to give way

With Zhou Yu you stood up

Persuading Sun Quan to fight 

Together with the Army of Shu, the enemy’s company was set alight

That was the famous Battle of Red Cliff

In the fire the brutal enemies lost the lives

Yet the credit was given to someone else

The place where you were buried

Originally Mount Lu,

was renamed Mount Turtle

You didn't turn your face purple

Walking quietly round the top of the hill

Honest as he was, he never

Fought for false prestige

In front of the Tomb of Mi Heng

A celebrity with no official post

Young with the most brilliant mind

People and things that you couldn't stand

Foul mouths with a sense of style

Beat the drum and scolded “Cao” like singing a song

Left a name in history as the river flows on and on

You could curse anyone with intention

But your superiority was an exception

Failing to distinguish the witty from the stupidity -- eyes blurred

Failing to read poems and books – mouth absurd

Not knowing the past and the present --body clumsy

Not tolerating the inferior -- belly full of turd

Trying to be the usurper -- heart’s filth spurt.  

True, very true! What trenchant comments

Your boss Caocao had a smile

To Liu Biao you were recommended in Cao’s guile

Liubiao also had a smile

To Huangzu a second time you were recommended

Again you cursed your new boss,

This time Huangzu forever shut your mouth

Cao and Liu simply borrowed his knife

Making you never rouse

Mi Heng, oh, my friend!

On the Parrot Land, a tomb you owned

You are really the first angry youth

In China, your homeland.

——————

Liu Yishan, member of the Chinese Writers Association. Former Vice Chairman of Hubei Writers Association, president, Chief Editor and editor reviewer of the Yangtze River Literature, an expert with outstanding contributions in Hubei Province. Published more than 5 million words in novels, proses, and poems, and published more than 30 works of various kinds. The group poem "The Mountain Village I Remember" won the "Poetry Magazine" 1981-1982 Excellent Works Award. The group of poems "Singing to Yiduo Wen" won the "Poetry Anthology" Poet of the Year Award. In addition, documentary literature, novels, and prose have won various domestic awards.

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