You’re back to being
An Appalachian hermit,
Amongst familiar,
Those old hills of rocks and trees
Where wind still blows free
Unrestricted by concrete
Unformed by steel beams.
Your home still waits your return,
With it’s unlocked doors
And glassless window vistas,
Open the shutters
Let in the beaming sunlight,
The Autumn fragrance,
And the song of migration.
When done this letter
Walk the steep mountain pathway
And glance Eastward without tears.


Inspired by Chinese T’ang Dynasty’s great poet Wang Wei’s
“TO QIWU QIAN BOUND HOME AFTER FAILING IN AN EXAMINATION”
Updated to a modern American theme in a Japanese Choka Form

Wang Wei
TO QIWU QIAN BOUND HOME
AFTER FAILING IN AN EXAMINATION

In a happy reign there should be no hermits;
The wise and able should consult together....
So you, a man of the eastern mountains,
Gave up your life of picking herbs
And came all the way to the Gate of Gold --
But you found your devotion unavailing.
...To spend the Day of No Fire on one of the southern rivers,
You have mended your spring clothes here in these northern cities.
I pour you the farewell wine as you set out from the capital --
Soon I shall be left behind here by my bosom-friend.
In your sail-boat of sweet cinnamon-wood
You will float again toward your own thatch door,
Led along by distant trees
To a sunset shining on a far-away town.
...What though your purpose happened to fail,
Doubt not that some of us can hear high music.