cold thoughts

cold thoughts

my visitor’s gone: the waves reach the threshold
cicadas cut short their song in dewy branches—

thoughts always in my heart at this festival,
only myself to lean on as seasons shift—

the Big Dipper’s twice as close, & spring’s remote;
messengers are late from your home in Nanling—

here at sky’s other edge, my fate told in dreams:
I suspect you’ve strayed with a new lover


Jack Hayes
© 2016
based on Li Shangyin: 涼思
liáng sī


Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:
小寒林 ("Small Scene of Wintry Trees"): Anonymous, Song Dynasty. Hanging scroll - Ink on silk
Public domain