Nicholas Browning

Tides of Shanghai

A vigilant gust prostrates itself

Paying homage to the palm,

Rustling weed beneath the belt

And among the glass on which sarong;

Fluttering like plain-swept laurel aches -

The tide comes marching,

Now it won\'t be long.

 

Passing notes rapture among

A still-imaged life as if they were real,

Prolonging illusory, synthetic waves

Coalescing breaks into the glare

To show that what we see is not what is;

In the tide comes marching,

Now run, or stay there.