Tony Beyer
REMNANTS
after Shih Wu
1
each autumn replace the thatch
on the roof of your hut
and stay warm and dry within
the walls you will replace in their turn
in summer with the rich growth of reeds
the same hut in the same place
but refreshed like new green grass
like another new season’s leaves
2
better to be poor and own less
than to borrow from a rich man
who remembers every coin
even small ones rolled into cracks between floorboards
3
even the moon when penetrating
with its light my paper-thin walls
ignores the small disorder of my possessions
pale lamp creased book cracked bowl
and my undefended scalp
casting shadow over a text too hard for me
to understand or explicate to anyone
as lofty and luminous as the moon
4
any gift either inherited or acquired
may be used for good or ill
including the skill of making with words
poets and thinkers pride themselves on
sometimes regarding their works and wares
beyond price and beyond a common audience
whose preference is for maps and plans
and recipes feeding more or less than the mind
5
not worth remembering
the disputes cities entangle us in
whose fence stands on which side
of the invisible boundary
whose chicken laid which egg
better to live without fences
and own nothing worth stealing
sharing what there is to eat
6
this is how it will be when we die
close to others but closed off from them
inside the narrowest margins
the body fraying as clothes as fellowships fray
7
the rich man’s struggle
to stay rich exhausts him
far more than the toil of a man
who saws firewood to sell to buy food
uses boulders outside his hut door for furniture
and settles to sleep on straw
while birds flock home to their roosts
and stars in silent formations proceed overhead
8
too many poems to write down
so I’ve kept some aside
to rest my head on at night
solid with potential
resplendent in imagery
not unlike dreams in that they are
forgettable then replaceable
and arrive unbidden in sleep
9
the blind man chooses by smell
the ingredients of his meal
strong flavours and mild
equivalents of darkness and light
10
the man sent out from town
has to shout and threaten
in order to express his annoyance
at being disregarded
hoping his conduct will be relayed
to those more important than he is
whose purposes beyond his comprehension
dispatched him here
11
the only way to be free
is to permit unrestricted access
soon you will be without value
soon you will be left alone
12
plague years and famine years
drought in cities where there are
more humans than drops of water
if my verses were to cease
another’s would soon replace them
dealing with these matters
using the same words in a different order
the same inevitable dark ink
after Shih Wu
1
each autumn replace the thatch
on the roof of your hut
and stay warm and dry within
the walls you will replace in their turn
in summer with the rich growth of reeds
the same hut in the same place
but refreshed like new green grass
like another new season’s leaves
2
better to be poor and own less
than to borrow from a rich man
who remembers every coin
even small ones rolled into cracks between floorboards
3
even the moon when penetrating
with its light my paper-thin walls
ignores the small disorder of my possessions
pale lamp creased book cracked bowl
and my undefended scalp
casting shadow over a text too hard for me
to understand or explicate to anyone
as lofty and luminous as the moon
4
any gift either inherited or acquired
may be used for good or ill
including the skill of making with words
poets and thinkers pride themselves on
sometimes regarding their works and wares
beyond price and beyond a common audience
whose preference is for maps and plans
and recipes feeding more or less than the mind
5
not worth remembering
the disputes cities entangle us in
whose fence stands on which side
of the invisible boundary
whose chicken laid which egg
better to live without fences
and own nothing worth stealing
sharing what there is to eat
6
this is how it will be when we die
close to others but closed off from them
inside the narrowest margins
the body fraying as clothes as fellowships fray
7
the rich man’s struggle
to stay rich exhausts him
far more than the toil of a man
who saws firewood to sell to buy food
uses boulders outside his hut door for furniture
and settles to sleep on straw
while birds flock home to their roosts
and stars in silent formations proceed overhead
8
too many poems to write down
so I’ve kept some aside
to rest my head on at night
solid with potential
resplendent in imagery
not unlike dreams in that they are
forgettable then replaceable
and arrive unbidden in sleep
9
the blind man chooses by smell
the ingredients of his meal
strong flavours and mild
equivalents of darkness and light
10
the man sent out from town
has to shout and threaten
in order to express his annoyance
at being disregarded
hoping his conduct will be relayed
to those more important than he is
whose purposes beyond his comprehension
dispatched him here
11
the only way to be free
is to permit unrestricted access
soon you will be without value
soon you will be left alone
12
plague years and famine years
drought in cities where there are
more humans than drops of water
if my verses were to cease
another’s would soon replace them
dealing with these matters
using the same words in a different order
the same inevitable dark ink
© Copyright Tony Beyer 2020
Tony Beyer writes in Taranaki, New Zealand. Recent work has appeared online in Hamilton Stone Review, Mudlark and Otoliths. Print titles include Anchor Stone (2017) and Friday Prayers (2019), both from Cold Hub Press.
