Stoneman

      

By Yuan Changming

Stoneman   Standing still by the roadside Not to point to Another hunting field But to lead passers-by To the land of greener pasture     Blue Glacier   Not a game between the eye and Light wave, but all the dust of A whole lost civilization frozen In the color of sea and sky Long before history began     Dancing Ice   A blue seraph From last ice age Getting drunk With the liquid fire Of maotai     Natural Bonsai   Hundreds, even thousands of years of Evergreen growth Into a stout pine or fir Close to the icefield Pruned by Arctic winds Potted deep in Rocky Mountains     In the Heart of Rock Mountains   Despite all seasonal changes The heaviest snowfalls, or The most violent storms You keep lying flat on your belly   With your head held high, like an enormous Deformed sphinx in full stillness This world’s most nonchalant audience Ever watching, ever wordlessly     Encountering during My Second Banff Tour   On our way to the Louise Lake We saw a baby deer crossing the highway Of our hearts; we don’t know her name   Nor did she even bother to notice us But her tender and graceful shape Remain standing there, like yours   Even long after our tour ended At a bus stop before the church