秋意 / Autumn Scenery

千年檀香逼祠堂, 悄悄偷到槭樹旁。
遠地童謠隨落葉, 普天金麥耀夕陽;
中秋綠草留根幹, 往南白鵝再起航。
看到烏雲山背後, 雷轟雨打那邊藏?

Smoke from ancient offerings fills the ancestral temple;
Quietly I steal my way to a maple tree’s side.
Afar, the children’s songs follow the falling leaves,
And the golden wheat reflects the setting sun.
In mid-autumn, green grass retains its blades and roots
While white geese flies again for the south.
I see the dark clouds behind the distant mountains:
When the thunder rocks and the rain falls, where do I hide?

Villanelle

At the cross-road of memory and desire,
secrets and dreams were summarized by ash;
the phoenix of my heart was spent by fire.

Your gentle laughter brought the immortal flyer
passing all space and time in a single flash
to the cross-road of memory and desire;

There, unintentionally, you built a pyre,
made out of a blend of thoughts and words, some mash
for the phoenix of my heart, a stranger to fire.

Unknowingly, you ignited the wire –
first a candlelight, and then a white splash
at the cross-road of memory and desire.

The odour of the flesh was rising higher;
yet you were unaware of the smoking gash:
the phoenix of my heart had caught on fire.

Soon nothing but ash remained for you to admire;
your breath had blown away the lifeless trash…
At the cross-road of memory and desire,
the phoenix of my heart was spent by fire.