Lu Yu (AD 1125-1209)

Al Purdy
From:   Beyond Remembering - The collected poems of Al Purdy. 2000.

On the day of Lu Yu's last sickness
a thin coffin was ready,
and two quilts to cover him,
and the gravediggers paid
                                 their work done.
Then he started to write another poem
a short time before death,
about drinking wine again in the village —
He was working on the poem when they buried him,
so that half a line protruded from the earth
                                 in wind and weather's hearing —
With sunlight touching the first young syllables,
the last ones flowering from a dark coffin:
                      "marketplace the in/drink more One"
The first three words above ground
the last ones wine in the Red Dust.
Near the village of Shanyang
                                 in Chekiang Province...

Poem 1 | Poem 2 | Poem 3 | Poem 4 | Poem 5 | Poem 6

Al Purdy's works copyright © to The Estate of Al Purdy.