Young and Old

      

By Yuan Changming

Tested Positive, Finally      Don’t worry, Honey, my love is way More effective than any vaccination You can get.      A single shot from my Youthful heart will destroy all The old devil viruses Attacking your whole being, inside out   Youthing The nursery rhyme jumps from my aging chest Eager to embrace the changing world with zest Hello, young trees! Hello, summer’s sunshine! How are you all doing along this humble line? I will resume my old childhood dream I will try this new feature like ice cream I will return to my long lost native place On this planet’s other side to find the face & confess to her as the apple of my eye Pretending I can restart my life, can’t I? Self-Portraying   As a toddler, you began to scrabble wherever Your little hands could reach. Later on, you Sketched a bird-like picture in your youth Until you became a grown up when you work Every day on each detail, adding a few fine Lines here, or throwing a drop of paint there   The portrait does not Really look like you, though it’s an authentic Manifestation of your true self. Once you Finish it, your children will hang it high on A whitewashed wall, where there would be A spider working hard to catch a fly or ant Beyond the web, or above your signature Re-Encountering after 42 Years Separation                         (for Qi Hong)   Overwhelmingly You came upon me Like the tide returning From far beyond the horizon   As if lying down in a beach I tried to kiss your foamy tongue, when My heart was soaked deep My soul all as wet with water As my naked body caught alone Among waves at twilight   Then you began to withdrew (Again?), just once & for all Exactly like before Young & Old: All on the Shakespearean Stage   Yesterday, yesterday, and yester- Day has gone with the west wind One after another to the fading & Formless pages of history; each   Present moment is blatantly spot- Lightning the deformed soul Down, down the heavy curtain! Death is a zombie starkly zooming   In the back ground of every heart: We each believe our selves to be The hero on our own stage Though we turn out no more than   An extra happening to appear By mistake in a stranger’s comedy Tuner: Young vs Old             (for Qi Hong)       While still in Mayuhe on the other Side of this world, you somehow gave me An air-tuner, supposedly to help me Learn erhu (a two-stringed Chinese violin) As a re-educated youth during the Cultural Revolution, which you somehow asked me To return to you before I took my first step Towards the West      (Like the monkey king?)   Now almost half a century Later, I forget how to play the instrument But I can still sing my youthful songs of Love in perfect tune with your chuckle Like a kite whose string remains in Your hand however far or high I have been flying      Bio: Yuan Changming grew up in an isolated village, began to learn the English alphabet at age 19, and published monographs on translation before leaving China. With a Canadian PhD in English, Yuan currently edits Poetry Pacific with Allen Yuan at poetrypacific.blogspot.ca. Credits include 12 Pushcart nominations & 15 collections (most recently SINOSAUR) . Besides appearances in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2008-17), BestNewPoemsOnline & Poetry Daily, among nearly 1,989 others, across 49 countries, Yuan was nominated, and served on the jury, for Canada’s National Magazine Award (poetry category). Early in 2022, Yuan began to write and publish fiction.