Malayan Figures

Slow splashing splashing

wakes me

and I cling to the wet pillow

Stepping on a long thorn

to me the sight of her hair

Little lights in the orchard

and she is hung with pieces of glass

and I am near death because she looked at me

Why do you pretend to light the empty lantern

why do you pretend

that there is a flame in you

I thought my soul was dead

and you found it was a box of sweet basil

Some wear bracelets on their wrists

I wear them on my ankles

and go my own way in love

I see wind far away in flags

my heart is not patient

sick with waiting

The deer lies for a long time with a broken leg

and nobody finds it

the whole mountain's been on fire for seven years

and you've just noticed

Nails dyed with henna

fragrance of poured rose water

you were my sickness and you are my cure

I have survived seven days in the wilderness

without food or water

but one day without you and there is little left of me

Moonlight falls on piled fruit

this grief is like no one else's

there are crowds here all the time but I am alone

Ferns bend into the water

over there egrets are flying

I sit helpless with longing

Oh temple flower

blooming in the dragon's mouth

Everywhere jewels have fallen

love is the dew

at daybreak

Moonlit backwater

it is an Egyptian prince weaving

but the light in my eyes is you

On the soft shore the clams bake in the sun

as the Prophet loved his people I love you

I would die

of your fingers

if I could be buried in your palm

The great flocks of green pigeons may not come back

but he is like my shroud

which may rot but will never be changed

If you go upriver pick me a flower

if you die before me wait

just beyond the grave

Daybreak with clouds flying and one star

like a knife in the hill

if I could find her I would see nothing else

Unless she is the one

sail on to death

like an empty ship

The fish line goes out

and out

but one end is in my hand

It's only where pretty girls live

that he thinks his lost hen

might be found

Let us row over to the fort crusted with sea shells

even priests sin in spite of their learning

and what do we know

Some squirrels jump higher than others

but sooner or later they

come down

Everything by the book

and you talk about love

too easily

You knew what I was like

and you started it

The straits are like a new country

there is nothing in my eyes

and a hole in my heart

The lime tree bends to the still water

how sweet your voice is

when you are thinking of another

The palm tree is tall smoke is taller

Mount Ophir is taller

above them all is the desire of my heart

The lighthouse

reveals the low mangroves of the shore

you give me hope and the sky comes back from far

away

Rough water drowns the gosling

money drives out manners

poverty drives out reason

I'm tired of planting rice in pine country

I've sown the seeds of kindness again and again

but gold is all they care for

Neither rice nor kindness

will bear a crop here

If you know a song

sing it

Setting out for the island

forget all your clothes

but not me