Why don’t you try this, they said,
And now I’ve a sense of looming dread,
That I am well and truly jammed,
My bridges burned and I’m damned.
Please come quick and rescue me?
I’m running out of energy!

It is raining today,
Cats and dogs*,
And the drops,
Through my window pane,
Look like a careless hand
Is tossing grains of sand
To the wind.
Yet, outside,
The passers-by
Are sheltering under
Their umbrellas.
Red, purple and blue,
Yellow, pink and orange,
Rainbow rain!

* English expression meaning raining hard

Bands of indigo
And apricot,
Earth, bushes, clouds, sky.
A lone tree,
And two geese flying,
Under a silver moon.

It is cold and wet,
And a bit miserable.
I am walking beside
The Griboedov Canal,
Thinking, idly, that
It is somehow
Wetter and colder
To be near or on the water
In the rain.
I huddle deeper
Inside my coat,
And hold my umbrella
A little more firmly.
Yet the lights beside me
In the buildings
That look onto the canal
Twinkle through the dusk,
And, in a way,
Keep me warm.

I’ve always thought Roundheads
Dull, unfunny folk,
But the Cavaliers Clothing
Was a bit of a joke.
Flamboyant feathers
On splendid slouch hats,
Fabulous jackets,
And lacy cravats.
The Roundheads, how boring,
On the other hand,
Shaved all their hair off,
Had clothes that were bland.
Oliver Cromwell,
A miserable soul,
Couldn’t bear the light-hearted,
Or heaven forfend, droll,
So he set about passing
All manner of law,
That would drag us all down
In a miserable maw.
Charles proved quite frivolous,
So he lost his head,
And eventually we got
Charles II instead!
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A piece of driftwood
Shaped like an axe-head,
Lies on the shore.
It appears to have been
Dropped there
By the hand that
Excavated the stone
It is lying upon
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I have hung
My Chinese lanterns
For Little New Year.
Practical,
And yet beautiful,
The gently diffused glow,
From the candles inside,
Sheds light on the path below.
Can you translate
The riddle
In the calligraphy?
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The colours of Fall
Of Autumn
Flush indistinctly
Across the water
As if an
Impressionist painter
Has stroked his brush
Across the landscape

My camera has
Miraculously caught
Poetry in motion
A London bus
En route
From Westminster Bridge
To Parliament Square
And Big Ben
Standing proud
Over all

Beijing in November
A simple, elegant bridge
Arches over the water
Seemingly an organic part
Of the landscape
And the trees
Gently weep overhead