People Petals

This is my translation of a Chinese Song dynasty poem and my response to the poem Yan Jidao To the tune of Mulan hua Again, the east wind blows its heartless gusts Smears flowers thick upon the ground like scarlet makeup blush Emerald tower’s curtain no screen for sorrow’s view Last year’s melancholy washes in anew Am I not a fool to fret so over spring’s remains? At every step shed my tears in vain Instead, I’ll fill my wine cup to the brim This full of fallen flowers I need to drink my sorrow dim People Petals Fallen flowers do not linger in these days When spring is greenhouse years and air-conditioned rooms And workers plant the flowers for a time, then take their withered heads away But no, it’s not in vain to fret and cry for all that falls and fades The careless wind and strewn ground A season mirror sending us our hearts The flowers as if people petals that blossomed in our past Faces gone, friends and neighbours, Christmas present aunts Run to gather up those bits of life and stay their shades Press them in my memory books and glue them fast People petals still spread blush and dab the earth’s cheeks bright The roads inside us still need tears to wash away the dust Be summer rains and clear the skies for autumn gold Even with the east wind shut outside and seasons small We still know time and still grow old and feel how sorrow turns Still the sowers, gardeners, sweepers Still the faded fruits, the ashes and the earth