A MOUNTAIN OF PINE NEEDLES By Li Yun

A MOUNTAIN OF PINE NEEDLES

By Li Yun

Squirrels and birds are probably experts at counting them,

counting them with ten fingers won’t be the way to go.

Too many pine needles to count.

Pine needles fly along nature's thread,

sewing the misty mountain scenery,

embroider a screen of resplendent brocade.

Heaven and earth in fine stitches.

Collect pine needles by hand

or rake them into a basket

and return home assured of fires.

They're much needed in an ordinary life.

Insert one needle deeply into a numb acupoint

to activate a passion,

to revive a kind of courage.

I am clueless to the change of pine needles.

I hear their silent falling

in a moonlit night, while I dream;

drizzle falls that way, rustles outside the window.

Glorious is the golden needle, but the wait is long,

and soon the mountain will be dense with old-growth pines,

Mt. Nanshan1, I beg you to invoke the pine needles with magic

to rise above my middle-aged muddles.

Note:

1.Nanshan: Lushan, a renowned mountain situated in the northern part of Jiangxi province in Central China. Nanshan is immortalized by a poem written by the poet Tao Yuanming (c. 365-427 CE). Here are two lines from Tao's verse that immortalizes Nanshan：

“Picking chrysanthemums under the eastern hedge, 

I leisurely gaze at Mt. Nanshan in the distance."

About the poet:

Li Yun is Secretary-General of the Anhui Writers Association, Editor-in-Chief of Poetry Monthly, a member of the China Writers Association, and a student of the 33rd Advanced Training Class at the Lu Xun Literature Institute. His novels, poems and prose have been published in publications such as People's Daily, Original Fictions Monthly, Legend Biography Literary Journal Selection, Poetry Periodical, Journal of Selected Poems, Stars, Poetry of Jiangnan, Haiyan, Green Breeze, Qingming, Beijing Literature, Yanhe and Baihuayuan. Some of his works have won awards and been included in yearbooks and anthologies.