by Rose Lu (Bing hua) Tr. East Sea Fairy  

Forbidden Fruit

In the Garden of Eden
A bright blossom
Bears a smiling red fruit

That Enables the green leaves around it
To hide their greed

But a wind from afar
Picks that apple without a hitch
And carries away
The floating-off shade of Eve

Leaving behind a faint scent of the forbidden fruit
Lingering on
In the empty Garden    

Childhood Friendship

—To Hongzhu, My Friend
To those without close affinity,
Parting means to be parted forever
You and me, having strong appeal to each other
Are fated to meet again to continue our friendship.

When we meet again after an interval of more than twenty years
I see you are still so pure, though suffering a little hair loss.
Others appraise your today
But I can tell what you were when you were a little girl

Who says you are already middle-aged?
That skip before my eyes are clearly
Your childhood smiling face and glow

There are shadows of your childhood
In every of your moves
I can make you return to the childhood you
Even without turning into a fairy to do it.

The brave you once took a pair of scissors
And cut my long braids short
With one stroke.
In those years
We led a sweet life
With empty purses
In those years
We were as charming as lily
Though we couldn’t afford slip dresses.

We used to play under the same clover tree
That was a pure land that refused pollution
We used to sing in the same boat
On a holy water that didn’t tolerate infringement.

The puerility we made
And the junior years we got through together
Typecast both your life and mine.
Your childhood is mine
And mine is yours

It’s true
That mountains may changed into seas
And seas may change into mulberry fields
But the unchangeable is childhood friendship,
It’s the most beautiful broad accent
It’s the origin of life
From there a cluster of white doves
Sets out on a flight toward future.

Midsummer Fallen Leaves

When I drove passing a small street
Today
I saw fallen leaves drifting profusely, like rain

Then I realized, and saw
They were all very sad
Having been used to a lush life
Aloft the green trees
They really don’t want to come down

Outside of my glass window, one after another leaves sweep past
I don’t know why my eyes rain a flood of tears
And in no time at the corners of my mouth something salty and bitter appears

Each leave has to experience up and down
No one is particular enough to shun
Today’s distress is that
They don’t fall in autumn in which they are due to fall
But in the heat of this summer day

Editor’s Note on Forbidden Fruit Other Poems:

Before Forbidden Fruit, 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.