That Look in Marty's Eyes

That Look in Marty’s Eyes

Cynthia Zhang

Marty’s eyes squinted at the indescribable slope afar,

“Look at that! The golden sunshine reflects

On the cattle on that green hill.”

“It is magnificent!” Echoed our fellow walker.

“Ridiculously beautiful!” I said,

While gazing into Marty’s eyes.

 

My scenery was those eyes of Marty’s.

Tears welled up there.

Marty kept squinting.

A man in his eighties,

Marty was in love with nature,

A woman he had been dating for several years,

A late wife he never regretted a single day

To spend time with in their marriage,

And now the very simple pleasure of looking at

Life and light.

What is more exquisite than that?

The Grey Crane

Cynthia Zhang

(Written on January 30, 2011)

 

Oh ho!

Startled by a grey shadow shooting out of the bush,

I held my breath to watch over to the lake.

Look, a grey crane!

 

Reaching out on her wings,

The crane was a motionless moving giant against the sky,

Until she slowly and lightly landed on the ice afar.

Only then could I breathe again.

 

“Beautiful! I should have brought my camera.”

Two ladies nearby shrugged to each other.

Their dogs were gazing at the standing crane.

 

All by herself on the vast lake,

With the bright winter afternoon sunshine all over,

The grey crane closed her eyes.

The world she escaped from was still there,

Not a bit of the bustling and hustling lessened,

Including me watching her.

 

I smiled to myself.

I became part of the world to the crane

When all I needed was to escape from the world,

Even if just momentarily.

Work, life, love, family.

Oh, do NOT forget, the exam.

 

A long walk along the lake brought me back

To where I met the crane.

Absorbed in my own thoughts,

I caught a glimpse of a grey shadow next to me.

Not a shadow this time.

I could almost touch the fine glimmering feather,

And the slim yellowish long legs.

Oh! My…

 

Again, she shot out with an elegant slide

Over the sky to land on the thin ice away from me

As if she was making fun of my childish appall

At her unearthly beauty.

 

“Hey, you’re beautiful, my crane!”

I articulated and repeated.

My crane!

You are there with me with your life and beauty!

And you will be with me in my words and heart.

The Phantom - Mountain Rain

The Phantom -  Mountain Rain

Cynthia Zhang
(Originally Written Nov. 24, 2011)

 

The white cloak blocked the car window.

 

Frantic heart and tightened skull

Helped little with a highway ten feet long.

 

This phantom of the mountain

Pressed his face unto the rims of

My misty glasses.

 

Tugging his cloak around

Each and every inch of the space

Where there was oxygen,

The phantom wanted his face to be seen.

 

Behind the mask,

There was a face

Different from any other.

Wake up,

See all the mountains cut by half!

 

Releasing his grip

Around my throat, the phantom

Took off his ground touching cloak,

Cutting it into pieces,

Transforming bits and pieces

Into cloud-like light fog.

 

Look afar,

Silver silk surrounded

The black mountains.

Look down,

My car floated on

The steamy ocean.

Look back, there was the phantom.

 

The phantom without his mask!

His face was wrinkled and rottening!

 

Please, put on your mask!

 

Music inside.

Food and sweet disserts.

Look outside,

My phantom was rocking around.

 

His eyes closed,

Tapping his feet,

His hands directing a band:

Come, he said, come to me.

Come, he invited, come outside

To join me,

To be subsumed by

This slow rhythm of two.

 

My palm in his,

I swirled and

Glided:

Once, twice, thrice...

Then, bump!

 

Gliding and swirling,

Carried away by the

Fleshy hillside and

Sprawling pasture,

I broke again,

Oh, no,

Into his rocky lap.

 

My phantom flew,

Fleeing from his crime scene:

Come, my dear,

I am now hiding behind

This homy farmland

With a small house of

Building blocks.

 

Do not be frightened by my mask.

Look my way,

Look close at my face,

When you might not

Be able to see my body.

 

There, on the yonder side

Of the mountain range,

would rise Appolo,

My phantom...

 

I would wait till tomorrow

If tomorrow would ever come.

When the rays of the sun

Would Stroke the lifeline

Of the elevation,

I would rinse my feet

In the lucid stream.

I would wear my wooden

Mountain flip flops

To climb to the peak.

 

My phantom,

Kneeling down to spread

His cloak of fine linen on the grass,

Would escort me to ride

Over the heights,

To breathe in and with

The mountains,

Till the essence from them

Would sweep clean

The small worries,

Till we become nature.