With your colourful sleeeve you pour me wine again and again
Those were the days when we sang and drank not caring to think
You danced like willows keeping the moon in the tower
You sang in tune wih the breezes stirred up by the peach blossom fan
Ever since we parted I’ve been recalling our togetherness
Time and again I dreamed of being with you
Tonight I gaze at you in candle light it seems
Being together with you is only possible in my dreams
Tune: Silk-Washing Stream, Broken Form Li Qing Zhao (1084-1156) 江紹倫譯Following extended illness grey hair on my temples easily seen
In my sick bed I see the waning moon through the window screen
Why boil water burning twigs with cardouron seeds
For taking medicine no need
On pillows poetry books are best placed for convenient reading
Outside my door the scenery is best when raining
I enjoy my neighbour’s wines and caring
Osmanthus flowers
If You Could Read My Mind, by Gordon Lightfoot, is one of the most covered songs in popular music history, having been recorded by stars like Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton-John, Duane Steele, Petula Clark, Kenny Rogers, Gene Clark, Don McLean, Liza Minnelli, Johnny Cash, and – in disco versions – by Viola Wills and Stars On 54.
This is one of Lightfoot’s most personal songs, mourned the break up of his first marriage. You can feel his anguish, lost and confusion. He did not know why their feelings for each other were gone, and could never get it back again. He wanted to move on, but like a ghost in a wishing well, his sorrow imprisoned him for life.
If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
‘Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong,
With chains upon my feet.
You know that ghost is me.
And I will never be set free
As long as I’m a ghost that you can’t see.
If I could read your mind, love,
What a tale your thoughts could tell.
Just like a paperback novel,
The kind the drugstores sell.
Then you reached the part where the heartaches come,
The hero would be me.
But heroes often fail,
And you won’t read that book again
Because the ending’s just too hard to take!
I’d walk away like a movie star
Who gets burned in a three way script.
Enter number two:
A movie queen to play the scene
Of bringing all the good things out in me.
But for now, love, let’s be real;
I never thought I could feel this way
And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it.
I don’t know where we went wrong,
But the feeling’s gone
And I just can’t get it back.
If you could read my mind, love,
What a tale my thoughts could tell.
Just like an old time movie,
‘Bout a ghost from a wishing well.
In a castle dark or a fortress strong.
With chains upon my feet.
But stories always end,
And if you read between the lines,
You’d know that I’m just tryin’ to understand
The feelin’s that we lack.
I never thought I could feel this way
And I’ve got to say that I just don’t get it.
I don’t know where we went wrong,
But the feelin’s gone
And I just can’t get it back!
Dragon Boat glade men of Wu compete to gain speed
On swings fair maidens move gayly to and fro
Women picking vegetables delightfully forget to leave the mead
Treading on green fields folks freely come and go
With clouds gone the distant hills appear in pale hue
With flutes mute silence returns to the garden pool
Bathed in crystal moonlight the middle court is still
Catkins dance in great numbers leaving not a shadow in view
Tune: Songs of Immortals Zhang Xian (990-1078) 江紹倫譯
Cup in hand I listen to parts of the Water Song
Waking from mid-day intemporance sorrows keep me tipsy on
Whence will spring return now it is sent away
Watching the mirrow at dusk
I’m alarmed how time had passed
To recall bygone events is but in vain
On the poolside sands a pair of love birds perch happily
Freed from clouds the moon induces flowers to play with dancing shadows
Indoor lights are veiled by multiple layers of screens
No steady wind
The night feels serene
Tomorrow fallen red petals in paths will be seen
Fisherman’s Song Zhu Dun Ru (1081-1159) 江紹倫譯
Tune: Happy events are near
I leave the world behind with a shake of head
Choosing no particular day or moth to be sober or inebriate
I make a living fishing in straw hat and cloak
Wearing frost or braving snow is but habitual
At night when winds lull my fishing line is quiet
The crescent moon appears high and low a duet
Where sky and water coverge in a thousand li
A lone swan appears and vanishes as it pleases
An old fisherman moors by the west cliff for the night
At dawn he boils the stream water on a bamboo fire
By sunrise the mist gone he is out of sight
Creaking the oars he enters a world of green admire
Down midstream he turns to view the horizon far away
On cliff tops free clouds chase one another so gay
I was at the animal shelter. A noisy demonstation was going on outside.
The shelter has just announced their plan to euthanize 350 of their care, due to an outbreak of ringworm, which actually was not a worm, but a fungal skin condition, a contagious stubborn disease. Yes, it’s treatable, but at great economic cost and manpower.
I saw a puppy, with sad dopey eyes, crying and listening quietly to a flamboyant private eye with a borrowed red Ferrari.
“Listen, I have no smoking gun on you, no evidence of your wrong-doing. It’s not me who exiled you here.”
Puppy whined, “I did nothing wrong, must be a misunderstanding.”
“It’s all optics. With all the embarrassing gaffes you and your husband mustered recently. It’s bad optics.”
“I know nothing about his business.”
“This political ringworm business is highly contagious, not fatal, but can spread like wild fire, has to be contained quickly and efficiently. House cleaning, sweeping all dirts under the political carpet.”
“Show me the allegations, show me now.”
“It really doesn’t matter. Sorry your political life is on the euthanization list. Casualty of war.”
“He cannot dump me just like that. I am a legally elected representative of my constituents.”
“Sorry, hun, cannot turn back the clock. He has more important maneuver to steer. Look at the thousands of believers at Parliament Hill last week. More managable crusaders to lead, more profitable alliances to establish and new direction to enforce.”
In a historic ruling, Speaker Peter Milliken ruled the Conservative government could be considered in contempt of Parliament for refusing MPs a look at secret records on Afghan detainees, and gave the government and opposition two weeks to work out a compromise over the release of the documents. And after much fighting and threatening, MPs finally agreed on a legal framework of releasing those documents. Here is a glimpse of what an un-redacted document will look like :
A PREVIOUSLY REDACTED DOCUMENT
Stephen Harper is no less determined than his predecessors to personally control the agenda. But we’ve had six years now of minority government, and during those years Parliament has become an increasingly powerful counterweight to the administration of the day.
Parliamentary committees have started exercising their power to compel individuals to appear before them and to explain their actions. Private member’s bills have actually become the law of the land.
And in an ultimate test and exercise of power, the opposition parties combined to force the government to show them the uncensored documents relating to the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan. There have been mistakes. The attempt in 2008 to force a coalition government on the Canadian people was an adolescent effort by the opposition to wield its newfound power. As coalition negotiations in London this week demonstrated, voters expect the party with the most seats to be part of the government.
And Mr. Harper, fighting back against this new threat to his hegemony, has used the power of prorogation so cavalierly that Parliament may have to take that power away from him.
AND NOW AN UN-REDACTED DOCUMENT
Stephen Harper is no less determined than his predecessors to personally control the agenda. But we’ve had six years now of minority government, and during those years Parliament has become an increasingly powerful counterweight to the administration of the day.
Parliamentary committees have started exercising their power to compel individuals to appear before them and to explain their actions. Private member’s bills have actually become the law of the land.
And in an ultimate test and exercise of power, the opposition parties combined to force the government to show them the uncensored documents relating to the treatment of detainees in Afghanistan. There have been mistakes. The attempt in 2008 to force a coalition government on the Canadian people was an adolescent effort by the opposition to wield its newfound power. As coalition negotiations in London this week demonstrated, voters expect the party with the most seats to be part of the government.
And Mr. Harper, fighting back against this new threat to his hegemony, has used the power of prorogation so cavalierly that Parliament may have to take that power away from him.
Tune: Partridge Sky Yan Qi Dao (1038-1110) 江紹倫譯
