Shadows Poem by Paul Wilson

Li-Hwan was with me
When I left here;
We went with the wind
For the horizon
Was tight about my head.

And at the ninth hour, passing Fui,
We rested, drank water.
At the wishing well
The Emperor of the East bowed
From his cane stool, proffering tokens
Of friendship; but the leaves were dropping
And we passed on
(my sky further east) .

Scattering leaves through the streets
Of Fu-shi, the small wind behind us,
The streets silent where we tread,
Fugitive; here we came on the plains,
Meeting flickering silhouettes
From the sun – desert horsemen:
‘Flying? ’ – pointing through,
‘Follow through! ’, they said,
this eastern window.

Should we have arrived, I am certain...
(never precise and shifting
percept of life, fading;
the sun through willows,
the leaves, hanging before us,
shadows, shadows
at the sun’s point earth) .