The sky is gray.
The lake is gray.
The city beyond is gray.
Once so big,
The city is now small,
And I fear fog
Might erase it.
Gray [Free Verse]
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The lake is glassy in August.
The air and sky are oh-so clear.
Vapor steams off of Yunmeng ponds,
Ripples lap at Yueyang's piers.
There're no boats to cross the water.
Shame! I couldn't emulate sages.
I sit and watch a fisherman
And envy his catch and his wages.
This is poem #124 in 300 Tang Poems [唐诗三百首.] Original Poem in Simplified Chinese:
八月湖水平, 涵虚混太清。
气蒸云梦泽, 波撼岳阳城。
欲济无舟楫, 端居耻圣明。
坐观垂钓者, 空有羡鱼情。


blossom drops,
fluttering slantwise
into still water.
Asleep on a leaf beneath lotus blooms,
Their fragrance floats across the misty lake.
Sudden rain - taps upon the canopy;
Its sound snaps me from sleep to wide awake!
The lotus is beaded with rain droplets --
Like pearls, drops roll together and apart;
The clear blobs coalesce like mercury,
Dripping to the river... back to their start.