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She places my feet on top of her feet in plastic sandals
I am small, looking up at her
we both laugh, spin round and round
unaware that the music has long ceased.
I see tiny beads of sweat glistening on her nose
her cool skirt lightly brushes against my nose
with each turn, I grow a little taller
until I can dizzyingly bury myself in her chest
until I can meet her mischievously glowing eyes
until I am taller than her
while she slowly reverts to a young girl, from about thirty;
we hold hands like classmates, avoid the crowd.
In the dim forest green flares occasionally rise
the river sparkles as it flows into the darkness
leaning against a large piece of darkness, she smokes
suddenly she turns to look at me, smiling,
her smile spreads in ripples, like waves in the night;
her smoking posture resembles that of a runaway heiress
she exhales pungent smoke rings
she puts the remains of the cigarette in my mouth
I cough in the smoke, becoming smaller and smaller.
Once again, I am that four, or five-year-old child,
only she no longer smiles, just gazes back at me through the smoke;
the music resumes, as waves of light from the crystal chandelier
spread out in circles, across the terrace,
towards the forest and the distant mountains.
 
Copyright © 2025 Yongbo Ma
All Rights Reserved

Yongbo Ma was born in 1964. He has a PhD and is a translator, editor, and leading scholar of postmodern poetry. He has authored or translated more than 80 published books. Ma is a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Literature at Nanjing University of Science and Technology. His translations from English include works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, W.C.Williams, John Ashbery, Herman Melville and others. You can follow him on Facebook.