Goose, Goose, Goose,
Look skyward and let your song loose.
White feathers float on the green lake
As red feet paddle through clear waves.
NOTE: This poem’s title is often translated as “An Ode to the Goose” but the Chinese title 咏鹅 (Yǒng é) is “Chant[ing] Goose.”
swallows dogfight
out over the lake:
belly-bumping swells.
a bird in a bush:
does it know it’s worth
half a bird in hand?
a hawk screeches
somewhere in the valley,
but remains unseen.
a vulture soars,
riding the updraft and
sniffing for Death.
its forelimbs crossed,
the dog looks "in the know,"
but what 's it know?
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands
Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.
even by daylight,
the black cat is a shadow --
devoid of depth.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 