Ten Days The bell shattered the silence. She opened the door ajar, the chain in safety; her heart leaps to see his face, the past ten days fluttering in her mind; little bird of time. He went to visit his siblings , and she didn't go with him. Law-daughter teased. He might not come back. It was our agreement, Mother said. shortened visit was not in his favor; her stay would be only a few days. When young, they were like, me-and-my-shadow togetherness; when old, they each have their own shadow; they even have their own space for ease. the ten days separation is water; water cannot be cut. ©Byung A. Fallgren
Poetry
Shadow
Shadow (From Substance, Shadow, and Spirit, by Tao Yuanming.) There is no way to preserve life. Drugs of immortality are instruments of folly. I would gladly wander in paradise, But it is far away and there is no road. Since the day that I was joined to you We have shared all our joys and pains. While you rested in the shade, I left you a while: But till the end we shall be together. Our joint existence is impermanent: Sadly together we shall slip away. That when the body decays Fame should also go Is a thought un-endurable, burning the heart. Let us strive and labor while yet we may To do some deed that men will praise. Wine may in truth dispel our sorrow, But how compare it with lasting fame? "Substance Shadow, and Spirit" appears in Arthur Waley's A hundred and Seventy Chines Poems (Alfred Knopf, 1918). Tao Yuanming , also known as Tao Qian, is believed to have been born in the year 365 in China. He is one of the great hermit poets of ancient Chinese literature. He died in the year 427.
Worry is not total Waste
Worry is not total Waste frog song lost its fantasy why wail? sky is hazy and the air smells of smoke bright red sun deer-eaten tulip and withering forsythia bloom roots are still alive ©Byung A. Fallgren
The Days When the Stars Wept
The Days when the Stars Wept
To be a youth was a curse in nineteen-sixties in the tiny corner of the world; the peninsular divided in two, South and North; joining in the bloody demos, after school hours, like extra-curricular classes. mostly out of patriotism; to rebuild the loose system. the more often the parties went on, the more of them fell, the petals in the storm. Everyone prayed in silence for miracle, to save them. Then the time had come; the night sky above the city was blazing; the air smelled of gunpowder. Everyone's heart leaped, but no one talked about it, in fear of the dark net that might swallow them. the old leader's demise, and the General assumed the Blue House as the frontier of the new age. Many years later, the childhood friends still gathered in memory of their brothers who vanished in the night wind. ©Byung A. Fallgren
May
May all night long gutter drums with drizzle Mother's heart Mother's Day poor daughter sends her selfie with a love poem Mother thinks that is the best gift she's ever received ©Byung A. Fallgren
Nothing Gold Can…
Nothing Gold Can Stay Robert Frost, 1874--1963 Nature's first green is gold, Her heart hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower; But only so an hour, So dawn goes to day. Nothing gold can stay.
Afternoon by the River
Afternoon by the River After shopping, grab the sandwich, go to the riverside bench and eat; eyes on the river pregnent with spring, so much to do in the days to come; the branch nods to the gibberish robin; as the sun showers over the trees. Time to come, time to leave; why feel as if an invisible hand on my back; no one but the passing wind, sun and the river. ©Byung A. Fallgren
The Couple of birds on the Pink bough
The Couple of Birds on the Pink bough Within the pink world, sweet smell and cozy; he leans to her, yawns, and closes eyes. She nudges; don't be so lazy, dear, hawk's eyes are magnet to us. Ah, he murmurs, have a faith in the blossoms, while their magic lasts; like the lone house, stands unscathed in the ruins of the twister. I'll keep an eye open for you; flowers and magics are whims of wind; my love is the root of a tree. ©Byung A. Fallgren
A poem’s up for Earth Day
My poem Invisible Cloud is published in The Weekly Avocet, #542, Earth Day April 22nd, 2023. Thank you, editors for taking my poems.
April Haiku
April Haiku on a sunny April day sun glitters ride on the ripples no fisherman catches them Nature has no bias white pelicans and gray gees swim side by side floating ice remnants of winter pushed to the shore ©Byung A. Fallgren
Byung A. Fallgren 