Cast in Amber

i should learn chinese

to write a long and beautiful

boldly calligraphed poem about you.

then, I should write

ten thousand more

each one better than the last

it would not be enough…

I would compare you to every flower

I have never seen, extinct,

ancient flowers growing wild

exotically delicate bright colored

so very sweetly fragrant

i would feign, faint, and feint

all confused as in that first seeing you

but it would not be enough…

I would compare you to wondrous

mountains and lakes of such beauty

that only exist in my imagination

maybe in the imaginations of

even greater poets and artists

but it would not be enough

but the simple Armenian lyrics

expressed it best for me

                  give me just one kiss

                  then I could die

but, again, it would not be enough…

June 2017

Bengbu