Yuan Changming – Four Poems
Muted Melody of Mountains
Twenty minimeters of pink petals.
Twenty minimetres of stretch and reach
Floral foil, twenty minimeters
Of soil, grass, dew, bush
Sitting in green meditation about
The balance between yin and yang
Myriad of leaves,
Falling down with mists
Of last night approaching – twenty minimeters
Of ethereal presence, kissing
The thick ridges – is the soul
The melody of equanimity?
Insects sloughing off
In chameleon-rhythms.
You stopped as you heard them
Twenty minimeters of dandelions rolling against
The vastness of sky and mountain
Simply for a Change
When the birds stop barking aloud
All the dogs in the neighborhood
Start chirruping in a new singsong
About their angel-like voices
Yes, when all is quiet at night
Silence falls into errors
Sublime
Rather than the Douglas Fir’s
Top towering against the morning sky
It is the way it reaches up
Penetrates the darkness of last night
Supporting a whole corner of
Tomorrow’s world like a tremendous totem
The same is true of man. The sublime is
In his rise, his civilized mind is
Uplifted to a different space
Nothing pushing up under
Your feet, your heart, and your spirit
How it stands high
Hibernation
Deep under the snow
All animals and plants
Are lost in their white dreams
Waiting
To melt on a long and
Warm day, when stories become
Ready to start
Again
Author’s Statement on Beauty
What is beauty? For me, it is every tree, every cloud, every horse, every mountain, every good-looking child and woman I see; every inspiring poem I read; every wonderful dream I recall; every smart idea I hit upon; every bird chirrup I hear; every snowflake I catch; or every moment of happiness I experience, like this one, like right now.
Yuan Changming published monographs on translation before moving out of China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Changming currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan in Vancouver; credits include Best Canadian Poetry, BestNewPoemsOnline, Threepenny Review and 1279 others across 38 countries.