by Rose Lu (Bing Hua, Lihua Lu)

The Masquerade

At the masquerade
You were the prince
And I the Snow White.

When your soft hand touched my waist
My blue melancholy
Became a plume of smoke
Rising from the dance floor.

When the bell tolled at midnight
you departed with a backward glance,
Leaving me
A mask of love

On the long stairs
A red rose
Waiting to bloom

That Summer

Having a pink one-piece on,
Eyebrow long fringe,
ears short hair
And long eyelashes
Reading two pools of water

Without lipslicking
And pondering rouge
I put on a pair of pink silk stockings
And a pair of tee-strap sandals

Left home without telling anybody
To look for him quietly,
And sitting silent to wait
In the little lane where he might appear

He came
And my cheeks turned crimson red
At a loss what to do
I said something that made no sense at all

He left
And strings of crystal clear tears
Spattered on the ground

My Confession

I,
A girl who loves feeling more than anything else ,
Lighted youth with a match
But the blaze of my affection thawed out the wrong guy

I’m
A naïve girl
My virgin heart is sealed
for HIM
Forever

Editor’s Note on The Masquerade:

Before The Masquerade, Rose Lu has had a variety of poems published in Eastlit:

• Five poems published in the April 2013 issue of Eastlit.
• Three poems published in the July 2013 issue of Eastlit.
• Rose Lu Poetry: a collection of 4 poems published in the October 2013 issue of Eastlit.
• Rose Lu Poems a group of 4 poems published in the March 2014 issue of Eastlit.
• Moonlight Scarf and Other Poems featured in Eastlit May 2014.
• Forbidden Fruit & Other Poems appeared in Eastlit September 2014.