I Heard Your Story Told In That Ding-Dong Tone Poem by Wenjun Liu

But life had not begun then, for life only started when into the world you were born.
Or at least that were what you told me on that rainy afternoon
In your ding-dong tone.
Life for you an endless course of death and reborn.
In between a heavy womb of oblivion, waiting for the falling moment.
Three times you still remembered among the many that faded and waned.

An aimless traveller you were the first time
Your prospect damp, your heart sick for home.
Until a pomegrenade blossom stretched her firelike arms
Taking you into an imbrace that you found unexpected warm
With petals to rest your head and nectar to help you sleep
She asked you to stay, for roads were lonely and night was deep.
Together you sang a lullaby to find your way to sleep.
In overlapping tides, you dreamed of soft lips, eyes' shadows deep.
When night faded to dawn, when sun pulled you away
With dry eyes, you did weep.

It was some umbrella of a belle that caught you the second time
With green shades dark, it did shown the sodden world a verdant spark.
In her twirling skirts, you flew to the furs of a homeless tommy.
The cat shook you off though to keep its spotty fur warm
You heard them then, the girl and the cat
The cat's purr soft, and the girl's laughter a sigh.
In unison they took off, with the umbrella above both of them.
You felt transparent to the two.
Lying on that cement road, you felt it for the first time, the emptyness gnawing, that cut and run deep
inside.

The third time was the last
For you sunk to a soil ground and into the root you were absorbed.
When you woke up, you became a blossom
The same promegrenade youmet your first time.
Once so close, and once so far away, now you breathe in unison, with souls not inches apart.

Life only happens
When you meet
When you depart
When you seek
When you find at last.