Reading in Li Po <br />how "the peach blossom follows the water" <br />I keep thinking of you <br />because you were so much like <br />Chairman Mao, <br />naturally with the sex <br />transposed <br />and the figure slighter. <br />Loving you was a kind <br />of Chinese guerilla war. <br />Thanks to your lightfoot genius <br />no Eighth Route Army <br />kept its lines more fluid, <br />traveled with less baggage <br />so nibbled the advantage. <br />Even with your small bad heart <br />you made a dance of departures. <br />In the cold spring rains <br />when last you failed me <br />I had nothing left to spend <br />but a red crayon language <br />on the character of the enemy <br />to break appointments, <br />to fight us not <br />with his strength <br />but with his weakness, <br />to kill us <br />not with his health <br />but with his sickness. <br />Pet, spitfire, blue-eyed pony, <br />here is a new note <br />I want to pin on your door, <br />though I am ten years late <br />and you are nowhere: <br />Tell me, <br />are you stillmistress of the valley, <br />what trophies drift downriver, <br />why did you keep me waiting? <br /> <br /> <br />Submitted by Jen<br /><br />Stanley Kunitz<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/after-the-last-dynasty/
