This outer dazzling radiance Imbues with melting desire Refracting in stained glass Shines over frothing waves Casts over sundial shadows Haloes the heroic statuary Banished within four walls Where silence, solitude reign Realm of inner marvels
Far and wide I have travelled Through the Gateless Gate of the Jade Courtyard Bounded the wooden stairs two by two Discovering within this sparse hotel room A place as serene as a walled garden Because waiting here for me I find you And what species of flowers will bloom As I stroke the lock of the Vermillion Gate So I beg of you, don’t open the blinds.
The surface of the canal is stilled momentarily Glass like textured colour of perfected clarity Drifting pellucid azure and liquid wisps of white The grey of gargoyles on the bridge where I’m standing Looking into depths of this quicksilver mirror Marvelling at the pastel vision of innocence Decadent dream of a long vanquished Empire My reflection stares back past and beyond A transitory tranquillity falls like water into water.
The souls encased within the stone of statues,
Chimerical monsters, phantasmagorical creations, heraldic beasts,
Slowly exhale, stir sleepily, vividly animate, move rapidly,
Alight off the columns,
Descend from church alcoves,
Climb down from rooftops
To roam through the squares, palazzos and streets
Which they have always dominated symbolically
But now is the time to colonize the city concretely.
For a fractured moment I was in an imaginary country
(Though all countries are imaginary in the context of eternity)
Dreaming delicately within the confines of the Palace of the Moon
Of melting and malleable nephrite, diamond, mountain
While the scent of jasmine and rose lingered throughout centuries
Sunlight and shade colluded to cast a permanent twilit glow
Rendering every corner, corridor and doorway mysterious
If I stop at a window the view is always surprising, different
Sometimes birds and butterflies hover motionless in the spring riot
At the next flight a blanket of snow covers the sleeping earth
In between lotus eating I await the one mandated by Heaven
The Empress of desires whose kiss resonates on my lips forever
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