Listening to Li Po’s Garden

Cadence in the sun
And you and I the feel
Of the green indifference,
Afternoon set upon the lawn-
A scene acceptant.

We apart as two are one
In every shape that moves
Along the grass, not as
Troubled bones in flesh announced;
Our shadows lie behooved
Among the garden blooms-
Pasted by the sun.

We wade a little in the wind
Silent, for all our words
Can’t make the trees much greener now
Nor berries bitter. Through eyes,
In sounds we breath soon find
More comfort than mere syllables-
Abstract upon mind.

James Hughes is a teacher, musician and songwriter living in the San Francisco Bay area, where he completed graduate degrees in English and Education at Stanford University.