Poem: My Boy, after Tu Fu
Books & Poetry
This week’s Poet’s Corner shares a further contribution from Robert Martland in South Australia.
My Boy, after Tu Fu
Thinking again of that spring in Khancoban
When my boy came to visit his dad so far away,
Alps not yet cleansed of their frozen blanket,
Gnawing cold not a distraction from love,
Fat trout to be had on worm, lure or fly
Fishing Bringenbrong through the melt.
A thousand pieces of gold splashed on the pondage
Memories of that time and place
Just me and my boy,
A line and galloping waters
Too soon spent, traded into shadows.
The distance between then and now
Time-life dragging us apart
He doctoring in one world
I auditing in another
Tho laughter and mystery absorbed by years
Still lie soft and warm against the soul.
White-crowned I stare into the rain
And the drowning crowded sky
desiring warmth on my old back.
Editor’s note: Tu Fu, 712–770 CE, along with his contemporary and friend Li Bai, was one of the most acclaimed poets of the Tang Dynasty, the “Golden Age of Chinese Poetry”. Some 1500 of his poems have survived.
Robert Martland, living in the Limestone Coast region of South Australia, is a former financial analyst and auditor who worked in both the corporate and public sectors in Adelaide, Sydney, Singapore and regional New South Wales. Over the years he has also had a dedication to golf, trout fishing and poetry, the latter which has seen him published in Australia, the US and UK. His poem Li Bai’s Cranes was published in last week’s Poet’s Corner.
Readers’ original and unpublished poems of up to 40 lines can be emailed, with postal address, to poetscorner@solsticemedia.com.au. Submissions should be in the body of the email, not as attachments. A poetry book will be awarded to each accepted contributor.
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