Blach hair
Tangled in a thousand strands.
Tangled my hair and
Tangled my tangled memories
Of our long nights of love making.

I see before me now a traveling army halting,
Below a fertile valley spread, with barns and the orchards of summer,
Behind, the terraced sides of a mountain, abrupt, in places rising high,
Broken, with rocks, with clinging cedars, with tall shapes dingily seen,
The numerous camp-fires scatter'd near and far, some away up on the mountain,
The shadowy forms of men and horses, looming, large-sized, flickering,
And over all the sky--the sky! far, far out of reach, Studded, breaking out, the eternal stars.

Kori nigaku enso ga nodo o uruoseri


Bitter–tasting ice —
Just enough to wet the throat
Of a sewer rat.

bitter, sweet, lover
happy, sad, impossible
tragedy of hearts


(Previously published in Poems Md, Apr 2008)

O my faithful Friend!
O early chosen, ever found the same,
And trusted and beloved! once more the verse
Long destin'd, always obvious to thine ear,
Attend indulgent.

I have a sister whom God gave to me;
He formed her out of trouble and the mists of the sea.
Like Aphrodite, she came to me full-grown.
Oh, I am blest forever with a sister of my own.

Tiny heart beat new
cradled in awkward tenderness
learning one-to-one


(Previously published in Poems Md, Apr 2008)

„Sandheden troe døde Birkner!" Hvad var han? „En redelig Borger."
Ellers intet? „Skribent!" Meer ey? „Christen og Præst."
Giv da Keiseren det som er Keiserens, Gud det som Guds er,
Og sæt for „Sandheden" Gud! bedre det passer sig her.

Birdsong brings relief
to my longing
I'm just as ecstatic as they are,
but with nothing to say!
Please universal soul, practice
some song or something through me!

I suspect the Kookaburra,
For his methods are not thorough
In his highly-praised campaign against the snakes,
And the small birds, one and all,
Curse him for a cannibal
Though he certainly is cheerful when he wakes.