In Memory of one of the Writer's Family who was a Volunteer during the War
with Napoleon
In a ferny byway
Near the great South-Wessex Highway,
A homestead raised its breakfast-smoke aloft;
The dew-damps still lay steamless, for the sun had made no sky-way,
And twilight cloaked the croft.
'Twas hard to realize on
......
I am Marilyn Mei Ling Chin
Oh, how I love the resoluteness
of that first person singular
followed by that stalwart indicative
of "be," without the uncertain i-n-g
of "becoming."Of course,
the name had been changed
somewhere between Angel Island and the sea,
when my father the paperson
in the late 1950s
......
XXIV
The ship, call'd the most holy "Trinidada,"
Was steering duly for the port Leghorn;
For there the Spanish family Moncada
Were settled long ere Juan's sire was born:
They were relations, and for them he had a
Letter of introduction, which the morn
Of his departure had been sent him by
His Spanish friends for those in Italy.XXV
His suite consisted of three servants and
......
One kiss lingers between you and I
Exploding like fireworks rainbowed across
the midnight sky
Strolling across the warm beach sands
shaping our footprints
Walking on water ripples as we hold hand
Uniting as on flame
An eternal paradox
I was parading the Côte d'Azur,
hopping the short trains from Nice to Cannes,
following the maze of streets in Monte Carlo
to the hill that overlooks the ville.
A woman fed me pâté in the afternoon,
calling from her stall to offer me more.
At breakfast I talked in French with an old man
about what he loved about America--the Kennedys.
On the beaches I walked and watched
......
Wait
This can't be a mistake
The morning light
Is just too bright
We've overslept
Curled up in bed
Now we must rush
......
Her essence in the breeze,
teasing, tantalizing, tasty.
Piquant pleasures fill his head
powerful, dangerous… unconstrained.
A boy watching, wishing from shore.
joined in imagination and dreams.
Slow shrinking ships at the horizon,
the alter of liquid pleasure.
......
Forgetfulness is a cabin on the beach,
A rocking chair on a pier.
A sunset over a sailboat.
The ocean's tide swallows fear and worry,
It's salty mist spraying serenity and rest.
The crash of waves bring power from stormy seas,
Lapping of ripples under a dock from wind and tide.
......
I was a stylish, assertive travel agent, arranging getaways for busy people;
Like sudden getaways of jewel, shooting stars, on ebony nights of upheaval.
I planned calm, exotic, trip itineraries, for all tired of city hustle and bustle;
Like a dark red flower, blooming isolated, in peach sunshine of little trouble.
I also arranged for transportation and lodging, for exhausted, glad travelers;
As beauty birds fly north and south singing, ever ecstatic, joy ambassadors.
I began dreaming of a getaway myself, one of complete rest and relaxation.
......
You and I will go to the seaside
You and I will flee the frigid winter
To live on beautiful and clean beaches
In the short waves on the shore.
You and I will dream together every night
You and I will live under the stars in the dark
You and I will sleep with our pillows
On the sparkling and crystal sand of the summer heat.
......