Monday, June 02, 2003

From the Winter 1983 literary issue of Bridge:

Two Voices for Li Shang-yin
John Yau

First Voice
Tonight, I would rather stay up than dream,
For I can no longer bear to meet you
In the only room we share.
And yet, I do not want to share
Myself with anyone but you,
Who left me imprisoned in a dream.

Second Voice
Your perfume still floats through the house.
If only you had been a ghost and kept your name.
If only you had been like the leaves
And drifted quickly past my house.
To the children I am an old and foolish man,
I talk to the shadows gliding through my house.

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