silk road

silk road
a tale of magic and mystery of old Cathay and the Taklamakan Desert, the ‘place of ruins’ through which the Silk Road ran
march 2022

This image of the Taklamakan is by traveller/photographer Hiroki Ogawa and licensed for sharing under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

had
heard
of a place
beyond
pleasure
better than
gold or silver
could measure,
men said,
yet no myth
no traveller
warned me
as i shouldered
the curtains
of dusk
aside,
with a smile
like silk wavered
_______in sky
she asked
where i was heading
what land i sought
guided me on
pointing with
hand to
the silk road
_______its line
under moon

lens

lens
october 1991
revised march 2022

There the scent, the wave, the reef…. as recorded on Weathercat visual frequencies

night,

scent of
some
flower,
some
blossom
opened

breaks over
the air,

wave
on the
reef

slews
on the
reef.

Copyright © 2022 Peter Le Baige.  All Rights Reserved

Click on the link above to hear a reading of the poem.  The accompanying music is from the piece ‘Hanayagi’ composed by Japanese composer Miki Minoru for the non-traditional 20 string Koto, and recorded here by Ensemble Nipponia on their 198o album ‘Kabuki and other Traditional Music’.

father of

father of

in care
of the father
of….
…
……
taking
your orders
ship-shape,
bow to
his stern,

the fires of hell,
his to command,
in your hands
to burn,

‘listen to daddy’

lives
to be taken,
yours on
the table,

you lay out
his toys
in the wood
pull on
the trigger,
old cities are
torn down
like curtains
to wave as
your flag

‘listen to daddy’

swears bodies
before you,
disrobing
in flame,
will fall at
your feet, now
brotherly meek,

will fete you
as victor,
rustling
to stand beside
you in picture

‘listen to daddy’

should you fail
in his service
no wiser,
rest easy,
daddy is
sure
as
houses,
safe and
tall within
pastel
walls

mumbling
his tin
lullaby
‘listen to daddy’

Copyright © 2022 Peter Le Baige.  All Rights Reserved

A reading of the poem is posted here below: