Turquoise [Haiku]

from hot, white sand:
the turquoise sea beyond
gives illusions of cool.

DAILY PHOTO: Tulum Beach

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Green Fort [Haiku]

mossy-walled:
the seaside fort blends
with jungle backdrop.

Sleeping Dog [Haiku]

waves crash on rocks;
distant lightening flickers.
dog sleeps - unstirring.

DAILY PHOTO: Stony Shore of Om Beach, Gokarna

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Foul Wind [Lyric]

Trees are wagging,
Whipping, and waving
That were still but
A moment ago.
Dark clouds snuck in
With pattering rain,
But, oh, how those
Foul winds do blow!

Night Swimming [Free Verse]

Trudging into lapping waves
On a dim and dusky eve.

Chest deep
One pops up, pressing one's chest
Onto the water,
And swims toward a distant
Silhouetted rock outcrop.

But it doesn't stay silhouetted.

Soon, one is heading into
A grand, black abyss,
There is no shape in this world,
Only the feel of limbs -- pulling & kicking.

Sounds grow ever more feeble --
And ever more rare --
Until the smell of seawater becomes
A bright and vivid sensory experience --
Layered & textured.

Rolling onto one's back, one can see
Patches of sparkling stars
In the cloud gaps.

One lays upon the waves --
Feeling as though one conforms to them
As one floats like a piece of driftwood --
And sees the twinkle of distant stars,
In a world too vast to understand.

DAILY PHOTO: Monkey Beach Monolith

Stout Clouds [Haiku]

stout white clouds
drift low over mountains
as if they might crash.

“Lament I” [感遇一] by Zhang Jiuling [张九龄]

A lone goose flies in from the sea,
Not daring to land in water.
Glimpsing a pair of Kingfisher --
Nested Three Pearl Tree squatters --
It asks, "High up in that rare tree
Of gold spheres, are you not afraid?
Fancy clothes incur points and jeers
And those high up are harshly weighed.
As I roam dark rivers and hills,
Envious hunters give me chills."

This is the first of the 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首] and it is also the first of a quartet of poems. The original poem in Simplified Chinese:

孤鸿海上来, 池潢不敢顾; 
侧见双翠鸟, 巢在三珠树。
矫矫珍木巅, 得无金丸惧?
美服患人指, 高明逼神恶。
今我游冥冥, 弋者何所慕?