Daily Bread

"The front courtyard is white with dew
and chrysanthemums secretely drenched with dark."
– Du Fu, from "New Moon"











Our old friend the spring dove returns
and coos her sad notes from the roof.
The song does not match the landscape,
whose green buds have finally blown
and the maple leaves fill every window.
I bend down to the planks of the courtyard
and scrape out a year's mud from cracks.
Beyond the wooden planter walls
the childrens' skateboard wheels
click over the edges of sidewalks
as my mind rests inside fire lily flames.