West Lake, Hangzhou
The day before my flight we cycle
to your favourite spot on borrowed bikes,
beyond that ridge of hills, out past the Temple
of the Soul’s Retreat, the Silk Museum,
the Dragon’s Cave, another pagoda;
and we stop at last in a flap of skirts
on the ornamental elbow of a bridge
where the lake is said to be clearest –
though it’s not what you promised: not like glass;
not green tea, but cold coffee, filmed over;
cigarette ends passing under like boats. So we
cycle on to Autumn Moon On Calm Lake
where the magnolias are said to be idyllic;
me behind, loving your blouse of cherry trees
and orioles; your hat, flipped off, dancing
on elastic; your hair done up with a plastic lotus.
This is how I’ll remember you:
these slim-hipped willows; this picnic
at Three Pools Mirroring The Moon;
these long legs of bamboos; these leaves
fingering my neck; that woman in white,
resting her paddles like a butterfly; that punt
splintering off from the jetty as we say goodbye,
how it slips into the skin of the lake.
to your favourite spot on borrowed bikes,
beyond that ridge of hills, out past the Temple
of the Soul’s Retreat, the Silk Museum,
the Dragon’s Cave, another pagoda;
and we stop at last in a flap of skirts
on the ornamental elbow of a bridge
where the lake is said to be clearest –
though it’s not what you promised: not like glass;
not green tea, but cold coffee, filmed over;
cigarette ends passing under like boats. So we
cycle on to Autumn Moon On Calm Lake
where the magnolias are said to be idyllic;
me behind, loving your blouse of cherry trees
and orioles; your hat, flipped off, dancing
on elastic; your hair done up with a plastic lotus.
This is how I’ll remember you:
these slim-hipped willows; this picnic
at Three Pools Mirroring The Moon;
these long legs of bamboos; these leaves
fingering my neck; that woman in white,
resting her paddles like a butterfly; that punt
splintering off from the jetty as we say goodbye,
how it slips into the skin of the lake.
Page(s) 15
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