April The Season Of Floral Fragrance Poem by Reva Kern

In the month of April
The flowers are fragrant
At the same time
You along with a hundred blossoms
Wither and fall
The breeze leaves behind
a lingering fragrance
Of the blossoms
Yet you have not
Ceased to leave a trace
The poplars and willows quiver
On the shore
However your silvery hair
Is borne upon the air

A mist envelops
A simple home
With lots of chicken and ducks
Who continuously chatter
Encircling you
Waiting for you to feed them
As well as a goat
Who silently feeds on the ground
You strongly push past
Feeling the dew on the grass

Smoke from the kitchen chimney
Fills the air with fragrance
The sun sets on the village fields
Carefully a small figure
Naturally bends over
You rub your lower back as before
Labor is hard

Many years pass
The waters whirl around
The port in the Yangtze River
Flowing aimlessly eastward
There you obviously launder the clothes
Pounding them
The sound reverberates at the ferry crossing
At the end of the old village

At what time
Will your little boat
Once again anchor
At home?
Please take along
This ripe ear of rice
On top of which
Is engraved your
Lifetime of sweat
Together with
Your ordinary name.

This poem was written in memory of the death of the poet's grandmother.