AT A BEND IN THE NIGHT (After Tu Fu)
The sun vanishes
into nothingness. Stars
slowly flicker in the night
like flakes of fool’s gold.
My wife has died.
I’m alone.
Sleep won’t come.
My brain feels as dead
as a pumice stone.
I crawl from my bed
with nowhere to go.
I stare into the mirror.
I notice my hair
as it turns
the color of snow,
no longer grows.
AUTUMN NIGHT (After Li Po)
A cold breeze rustles the leaves.
A few boats putter downstream.
Stars dot the sky. The moon
throws out nervous beams,
which flow with the river,
I don’t know where.
I don’t care. I fitfully doze.
Snow interrupts my dream,
and I waken in a daze.
A drunk staggers along
the water’s edge.
I feel that drunk,
as he stumbles to his knees
could be me, drifting
into a vast and lonely sea.
THE STARS FAR ABOVE ME (After Tu Fu)
The day falls off my windowsill.
The moon is a curved knife,
slicing into the night,
but the night is deep.
I hear an owl screech.
He’s killed. He’ll eat.
The rest of nature sleeps.
Life and death are mysteries
I can never solve.
I search the stars.
They’re beyond my reach,
and if they would,
there’s no answer
they could give me.
George Freek's poetry has been published in numerous Journals and Reviews. His poem "Written At Blue Lake" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. His poem "Enigmatic Variations" was also recently nominated for Best of the Net. His collection "Melancholia" is published by Red Wolf Editions.