Recollections of a sad parting of two lovers after a final tryst on the banks of a river in the south of China.

Memories of the Long Jiang River
flow gently through my mind
like the graceful, rolling pace
of Long Jiang's journey to the sea.

Images of you fall free like a waterfall
from the edge of my knowing
to the reservoir containing
all important symbols of my life.

There you are, standing by a boulder
on the banks of the Long Jiang River;
in the background locals do the family wash,
the river swirls reluctant suds away.

My mind’s eye zooms in on you:
Beautiful, fragile, wondrously bathed
in mystic smiles that make the waters
glitter with frenzy of sparkling beams.

We slowly cross the river in a ferry
powered by two women with oars.
We share the backdrop of surreal limestone peaks
with fisherfolk on Chinese river boats.

Something else we share: flooding emotions,
desperate realization that soon we must part
at the Long Jiang River, and even worse,
you must stay with your river; I must go to mine.

(c)2003 Patrick Talty