Silk Road

(for the charms of the East)

By the westwind shaken

From the branch of the magnolia
blossoms the bud of memory
by the westwind shaken
a petal falls
to the eastern stream
beside the silken petal
a fly falls
from beneath,
seizes a fish its dream.

T.P. Wilkinson, Dr. rer. pol. writes, teaches History and English, directs theatre and coaches cricket between the cradles of Heine and Saramago. He is author of Unbecoming American: A War Memoir and also Church Clothes, Land, Mission and the End of Apartheid in South Africa. Read other articles by T.P..