Tiger Riding for Beginners

Traveling Poet Philosopher & Occasional Wiseacre

through the paifang*,
 you leave your city,
  but you're not in China.

*A paifang (牌坊) is the gate over a street or road that denotes the bounds of a Chinatown.

something moves
 through autumn grass
  at water’s edge.

with sun down,
 the sky lingers in blue,
  then fades to black.

light-fringed clouds
 rob a stately palace
  of its splendor.

a raft of ducks
 glides as a dense pack --
  then one goes solo.

weary fisherman 
 paddles sunrise-tinged lake
  to cast nets.

hermit's face forms
 amid river ripples:
  fades like dream remnant.

summer grasses
 wave atop a once mighty fort
  that's gone to seed.

ancient temple:
 bats strafe ambulators;
  wing flaps puff on bare scalp.

clear water glides
 over a rocky streambed:
  eddies form & fade.