Yen Cress

From inland mountains to the salt-soaked shore,
From China's border to the southern plains,
...

The rising sun displaces eastward night,
Dispensing cool, sweet shadows by its light,
Then bit by bit the molten gold of day
Grows, glowing, gleaming, sending hence the gray
...

Kindled by the sun-warmed high-desert soil
Bright patches
Glow on untamed hillsides.
...

I salute you, Soldier!
You are doing a job I cannot do
To protect
...

Small and quiet
A snail slowly glides
Up this leaf
...

She scrubs the floor on hands and knees
Nor thinks to take a moment's ease.
She dusts and waxes varnished wood
And wipes the mirrors as she should.
...

Before I give myself to Mother Earth
To cycle back to dust from whence I came,
I want to say a word about my birth,
Before the world forgets my humble name.
...

'Way out on the sand dunes or under a bush
Lives a critter so cute, and so clever!
He wears a smart shell on his cute little tush,
And his habits are quite an endeavor.
...

Far brighter than the suns's sharp rays,
Far larger than immense,
A pinpoint perforates the haze
A thousand light years hence.
...

I stood in the vast, silent desert,
Alone, on a winter-bleak night;
Around me the wind blew so fiercely
The stars cast a shimmering light.
...

One pleasant summer day,
Swinging gently in the window,
My canary began to sing,
Softly at first,
...

She does her humble Christian works
For cripple here and leper there,
No matter whether danger lurks.
She smiles at sick ones, while they stare
...

Some say the Lady Justice binds her eyes
To fairly judge, impartiality
The trait that makes her truly fair and wise.
Oblivious of nationality,
...

The young bamboo made her debut:
She sang to me a serenade.
She wore a crown of silver dew
And ao dai sewn of silken jade.
...

They call me Snow White,
And they say I'm 'Just right! '
I'm known for my pure pulchritude.
Those Dwarfs thought they knew me;
...

Hiroko lives in far-away Japan,
Across the ocean toward the setting sun.
She holds before her face a painted fan
And humbly bows when meeting anyone.
...

'What is that? ' the children cried.
'It has no feet, no eyes, no ears! '
'A snail, ' I told the little dears.
'And see? Its body disappears!
...

The name implies inadequate size,
And indeed, many shrimp are quite small.
But a jumbo shrimp is in no way a wimp-
Why call it a shrimp at all?
...

Ethereal fibers cover
A barely audible purr
Yellow eyes aglow in the dimness
Silently approach on padded toes
...

Old Salem was a peaceful little town
In Massachusetts, set beside a hill.
Its people knelt to God in prayer each day,
To ask Him for forgiveness for their sin
...