A Trifling Verse

Presented as a token of gratitude and appreciation for my compatriot, the inimitable J.Z Schafer. Reading his poetry has been an education and an immense pleasure.

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A Trifling Verse

For J.Z Schafer

Oh that I would know those opal streams,
That bracket islands which harbor tranquility,
Where there does sit a snow haired man,
Whose fingers nine count nine umber stones,
And each stone is a world alive.
Where a songstress delimbs the ancient scars,
And her yellow ribbons are wheat of gold,
Her curlèd locks are willow’s breath,
And on her breath does phoenix glide,
Her turquoise tears are Tigris from which vision flows,
And sprinkle down upon Olympus Mount.
But then Master puts me to the test, 
And so he quoth, “Why does the singer sing?”
But in my heart I did not know,
So from his mantle he retrieves a trout and splits it two,
And therein was an ocean’s depth,
Where stars have pleased to swim.