Of more importance to me was the fact that Po may have been able to (poetically) send the goose to Merwin, but, because of current climate and political change, Merwin projects that (poetically) no one will be able, in a thousand or so years, to keep that creature alive since we are now in the process of”melting the very poles of the earth”.

So, the poem not only links civilizations, but makes an important statement about what the poet, a man who lives in a remote spot in Hawaii, sees as the beginning of the end of the natural world…as he knows it.

Merwin has written a prior poem that was a litany of important poets in his life who have died. And I read this one as a sad commentary on the transfer of a living creature, symbolically, from Po to Merwin, to…. no one, in Merwin’s mind, anyway..no poet in line in the far future because of the disintegration of our planet.

The poem was sparse, elegiac, and one that ought to be studied in lower level schools now–not only by poets.

This one, with my inadequate Chinese, at first rewarded me with its simplicity, but the oak poem had a stronger impact on me. But that could be simply because I was in a much more receptive mood when I first encountered it.

In any case, the two make a well-matched pair of opposites!

I couldn’t help thinking the translation of this one needed help. In the title, shouldn’t “Blossom” be “Blossoming”? And the first line, I think, doesn’t mean “How can we chance upon each other” but rather “How can I get you to meet me”, right?

Elton John

Tune me in to the wild side of life
I’m an innocent young child sharp as a knife
Take me to the garretts where the artists have died
Show me the courtrooms where the judges have lied
Let me drink deeply from the water and the wine
Light coloured candles in dark dreary mines
Look in the mirror and stare at myself
And wonder if that’s really me on the shelf
And each day I learn just a little bit more
I don’t know why but I do know what for
If we’re all going somewhere let’s get there soon
Oh this song’s got no title just words and a tune
Take me down alleys where the murders are done
In a vast high powered rocket to the core of the sun
Want to read books in the studies of men
Born on the breeze and die on the wind
If I was an artist who paints with his eyes
I’d study my subject and silently cry
Cry for the darkness to come down on me
For confusion to carry on turning the wheel

颠三倒四 说三道四 丢三落四 低三下四 朝三暮四 言三语四 三从四德 挑三拣四

Even Tom, Dick or Harry is 张三李四…

Hey, the Chinese Communist Party still does! The Three Thises, the Four Thats, …