‘And if I die we will go on thinking of each other.’From ‘To His Wife,’ ca. 100 B.C.,
by General Su Wu,
trans. Arthur Waley, 170 Chinese Poems
Did the General say an unusual thing?
He said in fact a usual thing.
People who do not have the experience
do not understand it.
They should not make a discussion of it.
They are a distraction.
My wife.
The moon.
Gardenias.
She and I go on thinking of each other.
I can see the moon go on.
I cannot see her go on.
That is the sole difference.
Pools reflect this
in moonlight.
They say there may be storms on the moon.
That too
was like us.
Copyright ©Richard W. Halperin 2016
