About the Author
Books

POETRY  
PROSE
ESSAYS
INTERVIEW
From the book Kliazma and Yauza
From the book The Wild Rose
From the book Tristan and Isolde
From the book Old Songs
From the book Gates. Windows. Arches
From the book Stanzas in the Manner of Alexander Pope
From the book Stellae and Inscriptions
From the book The Iambic Verses
The Chinese Travelogue  
From An Unfinished Book
From the book The Evening Song
From the book Elegies
From the book The Beginning of a Book
The Chinese Travelogue
(1986)

If you could dull its perspicuity, free it from chaos, limit its gleam,
liken it to a grain of dust, then it would seem to exist clearly.
Lao-Tse
16

You know that I love you so much
that if time comes
and leads me away from you,
it will not be able to take me away –
how can one forget the fire?
How can one forget
that happiness wants to live
and grief wants to disappear?
You know that I love you so much
that I will not distinguish from this,
the sighing of the wind,
the rustle of branches,
the life of the rain,
the road that is like the candle
and what the alien darkness mutters
about the mind striking like a match into flame,
and even the unfortunate sound
of a frail butterfly striking the window pane.

Richard McKane

***

16

You know, I love you so much
that should there come a day
when I am taken from you,
it will not take me away –
as if anyone could forget fire?
as if anyone could forget
that happiness wants to be
and unhappiness wants not to be?
You know, I love you so much
that I can’t separate it from
the wind’s whistle, a branch’s rustle, the rain’s life,
or a path that looks candle-like,
the alien dark that mumbles,
my mind that has flashed like a match,
or even the sad dry sound of a butterfly’s
knock against glass.

Andrew Wachtel
1. I was surprised by...
2. The pond speaks...
3. They don’t fall, though they fall...
4. There, on the hill...
5. Do you know...
6. I shall only see...
7. The boat flies...
8. The roofs are raised at the edges...
9. Unhappy...
10. Great is the artist who knows no debt...
11. With tenderness and depth...
12. Perhaps you are the precious ring of the spirit...
13. Will we really part...
14. Flute answers flute...
15. They say, they have gone on the white road...
 16. You know that I love you so much...
17. When we decide to set out...
18. Let us praise our earth...
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