Sonnet 136

Sonnet 136

Laijon Liu 20160630

How easy to make a wish, but to accomplish it?

Our children naively say: “I will…”

Our old parents cough in sickbed sign their will

I often ponder the things I could truly fulfill

We wish we are in love, find our match

We wish we are forever, all things well

But in reality we must adapt, adjust

For happiness we must let our failures slide

Count our days, countless days are forgotten

Count our years, the numbers less and less

Count our wishes, check marked are a few

And Time sneaks up on us, we write our last will

For love we wish we will fulfill

For wish we swallow a bitter pill

Sonnet 135

Sonnet 135

Laijon Liu 20160629

Whoever has will, does live

As the will you had that made you

And the will I have now succeeded

So your will becomes mine, I know

Whoever will come, will also write

The same will to pass down

For generations to read on

Raise our cup, and shout “Thine will be done!”

This will is a tiger skin rug

Flattened under our feet

Not a trophy of dead, but a majestic spirit

That forever haunts them in the nights.

Let no cowards, no greedy poachers rule;

Believe only this: be true and be brave.

Sonnet 134

Sonnet 134

Laijon Liu 20160628

Somehow the deal is about property rights

To own, or owe, or a market value exchange

A contract between two parties, or a settlement

Sometimes acquisition becomes liquidation

A hostile takeover that end up a custody fight

That’s why we need lawyers and accountants

Let drunken poets muse their love sonnets

I’ve read break up and heartbroken verses

But never a great inspiring divorce poem: Praise Freedom!

Like diamond is forever but love is uncertain

In this floating life attachment comes with Boom!: Bills!

Or beggars can’t be choosers.

O Rose! O Rose!

Love got prickles too!

Sonnet 133

Sonnet 133

Laijon Liu 20160627

A thousand cuts carved my ivory heart

Time chisels me this shape of agony

An art of dying, wounds slowly bleed

I again quietly lie on that marble altar

Slicing scars constructed a web of veins

Distorted patterns unwoven by the weaving hands

Ocean surrounds, separates you and me

Past dreams, sunset over the temple ruins

Thoughts is a paper boat or a paper plane, drift

Through the shimmering stars, the twirling rain

This, is made for folding and cutting

This, is designed to sail and fly

Ah, face the wind, ride the waves

Or bathe, sing my swansong

Sonnet 132

Sonnet 132

Laijon Liu 20160626

Eyes filled with sorrow seeing the world of misery

Hearts tormented to find solace and rest

Humanity born out of darkness, into darkness

As if we’ve never panicked or cried for help

Earth revolves around the sun, tilted

That immense gravity, unchangeable

Pulling all things onto its constant course

The night is our eyes, our true identity

Even at our happiest moment, our glimpsing glance

Reveals our uncertainty and concerns

Sadness, grief, fears, and

All that makes life pitiful, beautiful

Eyes hold a soul and his past

Eyes hold our world and universe

Sonnet 131

Sonnet 131

Laijon Liu 20160625

Mirror, mirror on the wall

Who is the fairest in the world?

My heart is dark, my mind cruel

But my beautiful appearance overrules

Your good faith is to praise and behold

How I wield my power to make love groan

Or you say I dare, I err, and I’m too bold

But I must capture the best for myself

The world may turn to frozen white

The rivers may surge bleeding red

But I will not change my mind I swear

My magic leopard spots never fade

Dark art saves us maybe, and

In this world how we progress

Sonnet 130

Sonnet 130

Laijon Liu 20160624

My Mistress’ eyes that verses can’t describe

Coral is red but her lips may be purple or blue

Her breasts I haven’t seen, only my dreams draw

Her hair wire or splash that must be some bliss

Yeah, we men all buy and send roses, bore

But I think she prefers kales to blooms

And perfumes kill senses, less is more

So sitting beside her I know I’m home

I wish I hear her voice someday somehow

And praise her rap or growl, say: “O! Beethoven!”

I’ve seen so many goddesses sail, but

If my Mistress stomps, the Empire Tower sways.

So, by hell, I’m sure my love is rare

No matter how you dig and compare

Note:

This is a reply-poem to the Bard’s reply-poem to an original poet that learned from book [Art of Shakespeare Sonnet, page# 556] by Helen Vendler, great help!

Sonnet 130 by Shakespeare, a reply-poem

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.

     And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

     As any she belied with false compare.

The Original Sonnet

My mistress’ eyes are brilliant like the sun;

And coral’s color matches her lips’ red;

Her snowy breasts are like to others none,

And golden wires ornament her head.

A bed of damask roses, red and white,

I find within the confines of her cheeks,

And perfume’s self, conferring all delight,

Breathes in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, and well I know

That only music hath such pleasing sound;

In walking she doth like a goddess go,

Her dainty feet scarce printing on the ground.

     In all,, by heaven I think my love as rare

     As any she conceived for compare.

 

Sonnet 129

Sonnet 129
Laijon Liu 2012.07.09

Ah, Lust, how we comprehend and define?
This old enemy, a slave ruler of body and soul.
Hormone, odors, warm sap and boiling milk
Breasts, muscles, soft trembling, contracting firm
Youth fairness beguile, old prudent ones set traps
Yet two-minute happy pride leads to lifetime strive
Kings and Queens hold on their crowns and thrones
Emperors, Pharaohs design their pyramids and high wall
Heroes die by their name; ministers bow to receive fame
Traders convert all thing to coins, miners dig gold
And all the world always hunger, never fulfilled
Invade! Ravage! Possess! Control! Unrest! Invest!
    In this we are born, and this cancer we die;
    And our future like we, scavenge present in dream.

Sonnet 128

Sonnet 128

Sonnet 127

Sonnet 127

Laijon Liu 20160621

What color is counted fair nowadays?

White, Black, Brown, Yellow, Green…?

O, it’s the color of Gold, a rich color

That all men praise and admire

Since ancient time men are drawn to it

Trade their young daughters to gain

Train their boys to ravage like wolves

Sort each other in clans and enslave

Can God blame us for this sin? This desire?

That power and beauty are based on?

And resource that we build our love upon?

Even our religions and laws require it?

How I wish we’re truly fooled by color

And never realize that all men are brown

 

Sonnet 126

Sonnet 126

Laijon Liu 20160620

What power we have over Time

But decay, loss and desire?

Forms take shape from infant, mature to wither

Like songs proceed to their silent end

If this page, this ink, and my notebook

Can ever keep you still to eternity

Then the past greats and our loves

Will come back to our arms before we depart

How helpless we are in this universe

We must pour out our soul and scatter

To know our inability, infirmity, and mortality

To swallow our sobs and face whatever that comes.

Sonnet 125

Sonnet 125

Laijon Liu 20160619

Ecstasy of St. Teresa, Horror of Laocoon

How men’s reality meets artistic exaggeration

Our fate wanders btwn angel and sea monster

Our minds hit bliss, climax, helpless, torment

Ten thousand arrows shot our hearts

Like sunrays pierce into a hut, set free a soul

A giant python constricts and tosses us

Like tempest, quake wearing the night

But often life feels blank and stagnant

All we do is patrolling in routine numbness

Our silent meditation is more real

Than plot-filled dramas and rockin roll

The carousel amusement is rotating, rotating

The red nose clown making balloons nonstop

Good Books

The Gay Genius: The Life and Times of Su Tungpo Hardcover – 1947

Link
Biography of Song Dynasty Poet Su Shi, many his famous poems are translated.
Review
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Six Records of a Life Adrift (Hackett Classics)

link
Short Memoir of a Qing Dynasty poet about his love, poetry prose similar as Story of the Stone or Dream of Red Chamber, Great New Translation! click 'Look Inside' to read Chapter 1.
Review
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The Travels of Lao Tsan Paperback – October 15, 1990

link
Late Qing Dynasty Novelist, Great Translation. click 'Look Inside' to read Translator's Intro.
Review
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Sonnet 124

Sonnet 124

Laijon Liu 20160618

O Love, aren’t we all children of the states?

We pay tax, go on tour, make ends meet

As subject to Fortune’s favor or hate

Sweat and dirt on our faces, it’s not game

And all of our consequences are designed

Often a voice comforts us in our heads

Say: “My child, God has a plan for you

You are special to Him, so bear the yoke.”

We never doubt this mindsaying a heresy

As long as we firmly carry out our tasks

Keep the system running, guard our policy

The blocks stack and the number grows

For this we all become fools

Die for goodness, labor for their crimes

Sonnet 123

Sonnet 123

Laijon Liu 20160617

Today’s new page inked yesterday’s stage

Your tears now for some events past

Nothing is interesting than what we collect

Not baseball cards or treasure trove or rare

Not Holy Grail or old folio leather bonds

Not trendy gadgets or prom queen or Nobel Prize

Only you, the days and nights we’ve shared

That will never be erased by tyrant Time

Haste, I search everywhere gather and store

Carefully draw your rose lips on my pages

Those priceless moments remain ever fresh

Only you and me, the world into oblivion

Nothing is important

Only you I recollect

Sonnet 122

Sonnet 122

Laijon Liu 20160616

What song sings? What poem writes?

What painting draws and film depicts?

You, the fragments and the highlights

In my memory that remains forever

Surpass all beauties and authorities

Give meanings to Nature and my being

It is why hot blood circulates my body

Heart beats to the end in every second

If all my gifts and works fail you

Then forget this like I’ve never existed

Delete this moment like never happened

You are cured, and never be sick again.

Virus and germs are everywhere

We spread diseases and catch flu

Sonnet 121

Sonnet 121

Laijon Liu 20160615

I am good or bad, does it freaking matter?

For I care not the public and their critics

No one should live in others’ dictations

Be it my own judgment and own pleasure

I want to be different, do my own things

Shamed to follow mainstream, abide the norms

I should grow backbone and balls

Speak my own mind, live my own life

And do whatever I want to do

For others’ opinions and belief about me

They should keep it to themselves

My body, my mind, my rights, my choice

Be myself, free of slavery

Be like God, not a puppet

Sonnet 120

Sonnet 120

Laijon Liu 20160615

I don't know why I’m here on Earth

If I dare to ask my parents for explanation

I’m sure they can’t offer a proper reason

I guess I’m just biological cause, culture custom

A thing we not give a serious thought

Like a sudden death, or an unplanned pregnancy

A death that relieves agonies, finally

A birth that brings tragedies, repeating

Parents give their children a name

Their countries print them some passports

The rest they have to struggle for

To see if they are really lucky or not

I never make my child suffer

I try not to make another woman cry

Sonnet 119

Sonnet 119

Laijon Liu 20160613

Pour it down our throats, pour!

Whether it’s sweet, sour, hot or bitter

These poor fatherless generations

Born of distress, pass down distress

Troubles unsolvable, we endure

Dreams far away, we dream on

Drag that hope, drag our drowsiness

And pray “All’s well that ends well”

Kids are fighters, nuts pursue ‘righteous’

Gun makers write our law and tragedies

We learn to aim, never the right targets

We labor good cause, benefit our foes.

The billowing sea storms untamable

So guzzle, like we are the wine god

Sonnet 118

Sonnet 118

Laijon Liu 20160612

Delicacies and dainties of every kind

Various colors and tastes of feeding frenzy

Appetite is stomach science, aesthetic art

We are carefully prepared on a white plate

Young men’s blood swirls in vampire’s cup

Dr. Lecter holds a silver knife gently slice

Magic mirror reflects a pair crystal slipper

An old castle, a chandelier in the woods

I must have all that everything, the bests

To know the good, the bad, to see death

To wear heroes’ faces, to bear deity names

To acquire all princesses, I can’t be contained

There’s a black hole in me

So I feed him everything I catch

Sonnet 117

Sonnet 117

Laijon Liu 20160611

Something sustains us and governs everything

From an atom to the vast multiple universes

Since the fission of singularity to infinite stars

There’s something here and there to ever exist

Life physically attached, spiritually bonded

As the air above taking shapes of rain and clouds

Passing through our capillaries and blood vessels

Restoring the function of cells degenerate daily

Something can be felt, only detected by hearts

That mesmerizes the minds of mathematics laws

That grants freedom and consciousness to being

And regulates the dead to stay in original forms

I try my whole life to relate

I know only that gives life

Note:
That something make us bond and all things connect.

Sonnet 116

Sonnet 116

Laijon Liu 21060610

I have to admit love comes with pains

Many young poets say “love is sweet”

And in so many ways they loudly sing

But it also deals with trials and loss

Those moment hearts weighing grief

Minds search universe for specific spot

How I count each day and each hour

According to events happened long ago

Memories never fade, grow with time

World I concern not, nor care myself

Meaning meaningless, value worthless

Only my thoughts are living elements

I am never wrong on this

Because we all have griefs

Sonnet 115

Sonnet 115

Laijon Liu 20160609

I swear my poems do not lie, it’s true

And I don’t have much love in them

For some reasons I cannot tell why

That I must extinguish this wildfire

Some fields shouldn’t be burnt to ash

Some hopes should never be ignited

Compulsion consumes all logic senses

Like combustion in a thrusting rocket engine

I must be cool, not too deep for love

Even though it’s the best thing in life

But it also tortures us often, like hell

It feeds us hope, or we digest despair

Love is a question I steal it from you

Someone gets it, someone don’t

Sonnet 114

Sonnet 114

Laijon Liu 20160608

Everything turns to agreeable as you see

Bitterness tastes sweet labor of honey bee

Eye can’t be trusted, only heart is true

And this the secret power of chemistry

Beauty and beast, dance among stars

Cute cherubic baby fed by ogre mummy

What’s good or bad? Can’t you see

Love makes everyone perfect in harmony?

Or, my eye and mind together deceive me

Trick my heart to another bumpy journey

My eye says “Take that lush path, into woods”

My minds says “Forward, never look back”

And my heart be mauled into pieces

When someone pieces them together, it spells _ _ _ _.

Sonnet 113

Sonnet 113

Laijon Liu 20160607

Since you left me, my mind is blank

That blindness leads everything I do

Time seems freeze or I lose track of it

Things move but I can’t feel motion

Your thoughts that you’ve never said to me before

Repeating now in my mind, about future concerns

Your wishes seem more real than our past

Or insomnia plays tricks on reality

What universe you are now, I wonder

And I’m still trapped in this 4 dimensional world

I just do not believe you are gone, never!

Along with all my love ones you still live in me.

Flesh is weak, but spirit incorruptible

Your thoughts, your love make you ever alive!

For My Brother

For My Brother

Laijon Liu 20160607

Mourn my cousin, Zhang Bo 1971 - 2016

Five years ago, at Dalian Airport

My cousin hugged me and said: “Take Care!”

Last night I phoned my long distance mom

She said: “Your brother past away on May 14th.”

Five years ago, I sat in his living room

We held arm and cried in front his wife

I talked that whole night about my misfortunes

And toils in America, he listened and cried

Thirty years ago, at our grandpa’s house

We were poverty kids, ignorant bred

We snuck out, to the zoo, to the beach

We together wild happy kind, slept in one bed

My Dear Brother! You are gone too soon!

You only 45! Your son only 5! and Your parents at 75!

Sonnet 112

Sonnet 112

Laijon Liu 20160605

You exist so to know the world exist too

And in love your existence gains purpose

Why should you care about the world anyway?

Everyone has his own world that he lives in

People’s voice, eyes silenced in transit noise

Their faces erased, everyone minds his own concern

Crying, singing, shouting… that’s just life

Things pass, and you won’t notice the nuance

A circular wall like citadel guards you

That private space is inviolable, you must protect

You don’t care if the sky is falling and world on fire

As long as you and your love together in your world

What world to you if you don’t exist?

What world to you if you never find love?

Sonnet 111

Sonnet 111

Laijon Liu 20160604

You know what redemption means?

That the price must be paid full

Forgiveness only applies to the repented

Who blames not society nor fate

Everyone has choices in every circumstance

To join the mob or go solo be undefiled

Gods do not make men, men make gods

The good the bad that hands heart directs

We need no potion to cure our hearts

Nor priest’s water cleanse bloody hand

The silence, the solitude, the bitterness

Makes a man to meditate his past

One must go that dark valley alone

To face his devil, to heal himself

Sonnet 110

Sonnet 110

Laijon Liu 20160603

Yup, you definitely a Player!

You’ve been everywhere and now you're back

And you still write some cheesy poems like this

Like you are such model lover. It’s so unfair!

Someone has everything shoveled to his face

And someone got nothing, begs around, still nothing

You are the one bets both side of the coin

Play a victim role, but a true aggressor

And now you call it off, you’ve done, tired

You repent, and say O you love the old taste,

How much you've missed it all and all

With your knee on the ground, you solemnly pray

And you kiss up to me say: “Oh, My Heaven!

Please embrace me, please save me. Meow~”

Sonnet 109

Sonnet 109

Laijon Liu 20160602

Living in a lie is dancing in a masked ball

One must know how to lip sync a falsetto

Artificial flowers perfect for all seasons

Beautiful wigs suit judges and high courts

You don’t know what fake truly is

Unless you are born and bred of it

The fabric of characters and culture distort

So you become a product forges counterfeit

The longest proud history is a gold front tooth

The wisdom of the letters viewed by glass eye

Power of imagination, impression, consumption

Is me, shaved off my pigtail and driving a corvette

For nothing in this world is valuable

If you can’t win, win and win all the time.

Sonnet 108

Sonnet 108

Laijon Liu 20160601

In writing to find what I lack

That many grounds to excavate

The real you, newly discovered, unfamiliar

The overly-ambitious, false advertised me

And everything is like archaic characters

Hiding in some antique scrolls waiting

For all the pieces of puzzles to fit

There’re more stories behind your name

Eternity and love are two most difficult words

Give us lifetime sorrow and meanings of loss

New senses of pains, new feeling of discomfort

More in depth studies and acute definitions

We are many shapes and dimensions

We undergo many trials and cycles

Sonnet 107

Sonnet 107

Laijon Liu 20160531

Brave into the night, a moment of rush eternal

Behold the golden sun that never sets in your heart

Spring gently wriggles in you, feel that tremor

Those withered leaves are gaining fresh costume

Brittle wings gradually expand, intermitted flap

Melody of valley and caves wake from icy dream

Lustful wind returns, kisses, caresses everywhere

All things wild, to seize this temporary pleasure

Glory to our being, not to the wasted shame

Possess now what must be lost forever soon

Top speed, out of smog, out of reality

Nothing catches us till that final crash

Monuments? Crowns? Tombs?

I don’t wanna be buried alive.