Su Yun: Three Poems

Illustration: AI

Rain Window

Raindrops, escaping the wipers

Crystalize my window

Through this crystalline veil

I divine my destined path

Rising from the pondside path to the distance

Floating from the lifted wheat stalks to the village

Where churches and ancient houses stand

Where chimes echo and rain-kissed windows glisten

Starting from inside the house

Opening rain-drenched windows one by one

My footsteps unlike droplets from branches

Cannot create ripples in puddles

My silhouette unlike roadside grass

Cannot embrace the rain so wholly

Yet I long to push open one more rain window

Stepping into a new world.

Dream of Journey

Even when awakened

I still sway within the carriage

Moments ago

We journeyed away from our destination

No transition from asphalt to soil

No final tree before the turn

Only distant wild grass and patchwork paths

And the simplest things in the countryside

Yellow wheat, dry channels, and sycamore trees

Mountains not chosen, rivers not included

My heart finds peace on this journey

With a trustworthy driver and myself

We have a destined stop

Indeed, we pause in a new village street

Through the shopfronts, I see clearly

Banquets of strangers under the lights

Meeting friends from my hometown

In an instant

We begin our return, I guard time closely

Bidding farewell to friends, offering banquet wishes

And the ordinary fields along the way

Sparkling before my wandering eyes

I strive to memorize all I see

As it swiftly fades into distance

I've always known I'm dreaming

Walking an endless road

Yet filled with familiar matter

Until I open my eyes, beginning to miss

All that I left behind there

Never to return but emerges hazily.

Mountain Tears

Behold the unwithered

Not clinging to life through affliction

But growing true to their nature

Should winds assail the slopes

They stand, unwavering shields

Observe the withered

Not untimely perished

But exiting with rhythmic grace

Should rains pierce the soil

They face fragmentation fearlessly

Perhaps a desiccated tree's millennia-old lament

Swallows the mountain's verdant stoicism

Perhaps a lone grassroots future ember

Ignites the ground's seasonal unfurling

Ultimately, your chiseled facade

Erodes, bearing your mournful whispers

Your preserved tears

No longer seek recompense

For the droplets shed adorning trees and igniting grass

Su Yun , Whose real name is Chen Ruizhe, he is a 16-year-old poet. He is the member of the Chinese Poetry Society. His works have been published in more than ten countries, including the poetry collections "Spreading All Things" and "Wise Language Philosophy" in China, and the poetry collection "WITH ECSTASY OF MUSING IN TRANQUILITY" in India. He won the 2024 Guido Gozzano Apple Orchard Award in Italy.