Heart Of Power
by Sam Bartle
Oh! How we built such empires!
The villages and towns
we razed,
Unfettered zeal
of the power-crazed.
Oh! How we built such fires!
Ambitions burned
naked in the flames,
Upon the ashes
of forgotten names.
Oh! How such empires we built!
Blood of sons
and daughters spilt,
Free of burden,
without guilt.
My! How still they rage and lust,
Decreeing to us,
that we must,
Forever build such empires again.
24 Jul 2022
9. Nocturne - 杰
nocturne
translated by PLS
along the bank you would mistake the willow twigs as your own feet and start flying
it’s actually the light heart that catches the spring in the wind as it pounds upward
bursts of music bursts of silky warmth bow down to tell you to forgo formalities
keeping your hand afloat at a level with a margin of error of a few millimetres
we greet as we watch the way to not fall behind to head east to the pavilion together
the burnt scent of fragrance of flowers in the late spring of the spring late in arrival unfolding its timidity in full
plain petals thin and soft biding farewell to this and to that have all been dismissed
there was only a tenth of dusk left the rest belongs to the evening alone
the mixture of dazzling ersatz orange pineapple pear first fills the light bulb
then bubbling bubbling into a whole fish wandering around fingers holding orange
cellophane-wrap-green river water kneaded and rubbed then slowly smoothed out to the silver banks
reflecting the unwhole brilliance of clothing shop hardware shop and barbershop
night is an enormous dark ship anchored to the head then what stands affront is the towering captain
then there should be a multitude of boats above the sides of which crowding into a giant roar
oh you how come you are also in the crowd are you also here to see this floating monstrosity
in this steep night we even recognise each other among the endless crowds of people
I fell from the window of a riverside hotel because the wind blows the other way
I smelled you in this wind so I swam across without any hesitation
do people cluster here just to witness the boat after boat of dark scenery
no no who doesn’t swim blindly downward it’s not the beauty of night
I believe there is silent gold all over this ship it just needs to be shone over
even though being swapped this night is no longer the one I still believe that the valuable
not to be revealed treasures always bury themselves in the dark trunks and stay buried
only through this way can we explain what mastership the night dark as such carries
there must be something that balaclava-ed across the night already half spent in a blink
strange how you live here don’t even mention how time flies and that it’s difficult to meet by chance
where is that beautiful guy who used to snuggle up to you like an oar that never leaves the boat
he either dipped into someone else’s water or swam to another bank
it turns out these kind of obvious fruitless events first keep adorning night by night
then turn you into a green mist of luxuriant foliage like a landscape tree free of the burden of fruits
how I am scared of being girdled by your lushness like the chirping of birds I already wish to see the summer
once summer is really here the summer filled with nightingales and partridges is definitely not my abode
the night is all my sluggishness I flow toward all your sluggishness is a heavy night
deep yet dull night doesn’t mean the casual profundity on the pointer there must be something on the great ship
the pile of my flowery verses my flowery verses piling up how I wish to gift them to you piece by piece
how to unload them you touch the darkness over this ship only to feel it without the desire to examine the goods
thus is the night night-ing over and over again without a place to moor the next day the sky is blue and cloudless
when our pavilion just starts to glimmer there’s a sudden parting between the shrike and the swallow
in the centre of the ground is the tiresome reed instrument surrounded by new leaves mirroring shadows
you are far gone too far away now whereas me I am also broken into pieces, slenderly with a clunk
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