Poetry 101 - Li Ch’ing Chao Imitation

The gentle breeze has died down

A hint of salt drifts from beyond

My eyes open

In front of me an expanse incomprehensible

An expanse I know so well

My pupils dilate to the dimming light

A liner ? Just a silhouette against the red

The breeze picks up again

I shiver

Not from the cold, but from the warmth

A vine for every time I swung on one

A hundred, no, maybe a million

Years ago, they could support my weight

And now, they still can.

A cacophony of bird calls,

A hundred, no, maybe a million

Pearl drops of sap? maybe tears

Spiral down the vines

Tears of joy, I hope,

For I know mine are

The heavens cry

The ominous rumblings that used to scare

Now make me smile

Narrow roads turn into swollen rivers

Washing away the dust, the smog

The leaves glisten and sparkle

Like the stars I grew up under

Like my eyes when it was time for football

One more game in the mud and rain ?