The Hollow

Brilliant theorists
Searing white lights
Of intellect and desire

They don't claim that they
Are right; they decorate
One another for getting closer
To something that can be
Proven by observation

The galaxies are all moving
Away from us in
Steady (but not
Infinite) expansion

Like you and I, they fade and
Glimmer, becoming memories
Like moons whose faces whine
Craters of insults etched eons ago

I want to write about great
Things and set minds afire
Quiet the restlessness of bodies
And open hearts

Instead, I write about us
What light I saw in passing
The amusements that never
Lingered long enough to recall
With any certainty

The weave of days
Gouges into weeks and
Unravels from there

Salt water splashes
the burnt China sea
      as the day
      blazes into another
      night empty and
Full, empty and full

I count the hours in
Lyrics of letting go



Ellen Sander
Xiamen, PR China December 2002

China Poetry Cover Page