Thin fog, cloud paste. The day
is a stretch of longing.
Camphorous smoke rises
from the mouths of golden lions.
Once again, it is the Chongyang festival.
Jade pillow, curtain netting.
Midnight chill passes through the world.
Dusk. I am drunk by the fence
that lines the east,
my sleeves filled with smoke.
Don’t say I can’t be swept away.
When the west wind rolls up my curtain,
I am thinner than a yellow flower.
[Click image to see the original Chinese.]
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 17, Issue 4.
In 2014, Wendy Chen was awarded the Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Prize by the Academy of American Poets. She has been published in American Poets. Currently, she is pursuing an MFA in poetry at Syracuse University.
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