Poems of lonliness and distance
of heartfelt grief
reflected back in the last light
of springtime passing into autumn as if summer
had never happened
her own beauty
like the plum blossoms she loves
appears all too ephemeral
she notes the swallows
heading back at dusk to hidden nests
but for the poet
her beloved stationed in some farflung
outpost of the empire
there's no love nest
only her cold rooms and empty bed
no wonder rice wine seems
her close companion
and yet she clearly takes to heart
the rigors of her craft
fitting her words and rhymes
to match the rythm
of the songtunes she has chosen
and so achieves a formal beauty
poems of longing fashioned with
patience and skill - a vessel
to contain her sorrow's overflow