Starry Eyes
Cynthia Zhang
(Written September 6, 2014)

Starry Eyes

To Professor Wang, In Commemoration of Professor Zhu

When does day end, night start?

At the peak of the mega city,

The pale moon cannot pierce through

The noise, indifference, and exhaustion.

 

Where does life end, death start?

I bend life and death into ovals.

I lift ovals with my years,

My years without you 

Into the sky.

 

Then I see your eyes smiling

Down at me,

As they always did,

Through my years

My years with you.

 

Bewildered by the new life

In college,

For the first time,

I caught the glimpse of

Your large eyes.

 

Those eyes

Were calm and gentle,

They shone in my presence and asked:

Stand by me. No worries.

 

How my heart rejoiced to find

A comrade and company

When I found you!

 

In countless days and endless nights

We conversed

Side by side

In the classroom, the library,

And the open fields around our campus.

 

When the cultural storm rushed away our peace

And swept us onto the broad rural horizon,

Our emotions for each other grew

In our hard labor and laughter

Shared by our eager students.

 

The rising sun and the setting moon

Witnessed our hearts become tender

For the mere thoughts

And the sound of steps

Of the other.

 

Finally,

We became a family

In our lives, spirit, and pursuits.

 

That early spring in the Summer Palace

Was cold and damp.

The shy yellow leaves on the trees

Shuddered in the wind.

 

But my hands were warm in yours.

My heart beats were even

When our son

Turned and tossed

In my womb.

 

My life and another little life

Were safe in your hands

As your eyes

Never left me and my needs.

 

As the wind from the west

Blew harder and stronger,

You took off to the U.S.

With your wings and heart

Opening wide.

 

I took on your teaching

And family responsibility.

I could stand to see your caring eyes

Only in my dreams

Because I must make your dreams

Come true

As you made mine.

 

Then death threatened to separate us.

 

But the dark shadow of death

Only managed to push us

Closer to each other.

 

By your bedside,

I put up my home in the hospital.

We were together

When days and nights passed by us.

 

Days and nights could not

Raise

The slightest doubt

In our hearts about

Our love and devotion.

 

I wanted your life to go on

As I could not walk home alone.

You wanted my peace of mind

After you would walk

Outside my life.

 

I could only accept your gift

Earned by your respect among colleagues

As I knew

Your eyes would watch me

From above.

 

You should know,

Your eyes I saw

In and with my life

Would be

Forever

The brightest stars over me.

 

Now,

Let me see you…

When you are in my eyes.

Please see me,

I see myself in your eyes.

 

I see you

In life, in death.