I posted these last year and since I am going back to Smith tomorrow, I'd like to slip them in again. From the Smith College chrysanthemum show.
Remembering the Chrysanthemums
By Lady Allspice
The autumn wind that through the knotgrass blows
Blurs the sad gazer’s eye with unshed tears;
But autumn’s guest, who last year graced this plot
Only, as yet, in dreams of night appears.
The wild geese from the North are now returning;
The dhobi’s thump at evening fills my ears.
Those golden flowers for which you see me pine
I’ll meet again at this year’s double nine.
Seeking the Chrysanthemum
By Green Boy
The crisp day bids us go on an excursion
Resistant to the wineshop door’s temptation.
Some garden, where, before the frosts, was planted
The glory of autumn, being our destination:
Which after weary walk having found, we’ll sing
An autumn song with unsubdued elation.
And you, gold flowers, if all the poet told
You understood,would not refuse his gold!
Admiring the Chrysanthemums
By Cloud Maiden
Transplanted treasures, dear to me as gold-
Both the pale clumps and those of darker hue!
Bare-headed by your wintry bed I sit
And, musing, hug my knees and sing to you.
None more than you the villain world disdains;
None understands your proud heart as I do
The precious hours of autumn I’ll not waste,
But bide with you and savour their full taste.
Arranging the Chrysanthemums
By Cloud Maiden
What greater pleasure than the lute to strum
Or sip wine by your delicate display?
To hold the garden’s fragrance in one vase,
And see all autumn in a single spray?
On frosty nights I’ll dream you back again
Brave in your garden bed at close of day.
Since with your shy disdain I sympathize,
Tis you,not summer’s gaudy blooms I prize.
Celebrating the Chrysanthemums
By River Queen
Down garden walks, in search of inspiration,
A restless demon drives me all the time
Then brush blooms into praises and the mouth
Grows acrid-sweet , hymning those scents sublime. .
Yet easier ‘twere a world of grief to tell
Than to lock autumn’s secret in one rhyme.
That miracle old Tao did once attain;
Since when a thousand bards have tried in vain.
Questioning the Chrysanthemums
By River Queen
Since none else autumn’s mystery can explain,
I come with the murmured questions to your gate:
Who, world disdainer, shares your hiding place?
Of all the flowers why do you bloom so late?
The garden silent lies in frosty dew,
The geese return, the cricket mourns his fate
Let not speech from your silent world be banished:
Converse with me, since me you understand.
The Dream of the Chrysanthemums
By River Queen
Light-hearted in my bed I lie
And seem to chase the moon across the sky.
Well, if immortal, I‘ll go seek old Tao,
Not imitate Zhuang’s flittering butterfly!
Following the wild goose, into sleep I slid;
From which now, startled by the cricket’s cry,
Midst cold and fog and dying leaves I wake,
With no one by to tell of my heart’s ache.
‘
The Decay of the Chrysanthemums
By Plaintain Lover
The feasting over and the first snow fallen, ‘
The flowers frost-stricken lie or sideways lean
Their perfume lingering, but their gold hue dimmed.
And few poor, tattered leaves bereft of green,
Now under moonlit bench the cricket shrills,
And weary goose-files in the cold sky are seen.
Yet of your passing let me not complain:
Next autumn equinox we’ll meet again!
‘.
