The Years, My Friend

Winter by Farhad
The Years, My Friend

The years, my friend, have not been kind
upon your marble face,   I hear the river songs
tinkle with the cymbals,
your eyes are shriveled grapes upon the vine,
your mouth a wounded cherry,
pecked reddish-grey
by restless robins.

Take my hand, my friend,
let us go to the calling fields that blaze with diamonds
under the eternal skies,
to the orchards in the midst of these winter days,
where leafless branches stand dauntless
in the endless cold, with jubilant tales to tell
in the blizzard of their days —

harken to the legends
of the root and the bud and the sun,
and the promise
(believe the promise)
that warmth and springtime
will come,
(it always comes)
once again.

by D. G. Vachal © 2013

*** Photography by Farhad

October Storm Prelude

October Storm Prelude

Cling on to the branches,
mandarin and lime,
russet,
flavescent leaves,
still-life in this breathless
moment —

Clouds come in,
a shroud of gunmetal
pewter,
a taunting chill,
a silenced song —

Tomorrow
the wind will howl
as the wolf
and at full moon
tidewaters
overflow —

Tomorrow my tears
fall with the rain
for the broken
branches
and the fallen
leaves.

by D. G. V. © 2012

*** Photography by Albena Markova

Chestnuts in Kowloon

Chestnuts in Kowloon

I have been to the Fragrant Harbor
far away,
where the people sounded like rain
upon the cobblestones,
and their laughter I called my own,
for once, for a little while
I was there

with you as we walked
past market stalls with the cackle
of hagglers
and scents of sesame and jasmine
filled the air,
we climbed tall buildings
and the peak of a mountain,
I was there

with you as we crossed the harbor
along with salt and seaweed,
by noon we reached Kowloon
famished,
and we shared a paper bag
filled with roasted chestnuts:
there by the lotus pond,
the moist white warmth and our dreams
fed our nameless hunger —

now the Fragrant Harbor awaits
far away,
but I am no longer there,
save the shriveled husks of chestnuts
we threw away so long ago
that for once, for a little while
burned among the coals.

by D. G. V. © 2012