To Old Age By Kenneth Koch

methos

You hurried through my twenties as if there were nowhere to look
For what you were searching for, perhaps my first trip to China.
You said "I love that country because they love everything that's old
And they like things to look old—take the fortune cookies for example
Or the dumplings or the universe's shining face." I said
"Chopsticks don't look old," but you were hurrying
Past me, past my love, my uncomprehended marriage, my
Nine or ten years nailed in the valley of the fools, and still you
were not there,Wouldn't stop there. You disappeared for a year
That Ispent in Paris, came back to me in my father's face
And later in my mother's conversation. You seemed great in the palm
treesDuring a storm and lessened by the boats' preceding clops.
Looking at a gun or at a tiger Inever thought I was standing facing you.
You were elsewhere, rippling the sands or else making some boring
conversationAmong people who scarcely knew each other. You were left by Shelley to
languishAnd by Byron and by Keats. Shakespeare never encountered you. What are
you, old age,That some do and some do not come to you?
Are you an old guru who won't quit talking to us in time
For us to hang up the phone? You scare me half to death
And Isuppose you will take me there, too. You are a companion
Of green ivy and stumbling vines. If Icould break away from you
I would, but there is no light down in that gulch there. Walk with me,
thenLet's not be falling…this fiery morning. Grand age, nous voici!
Old age, here we are! —Kenneth Koch

未明

It can be simplified...
Errr..
Personally,.a bit tedious....though the main idea is clear,and the concluding part is impressive...

天使同类

说得好！！

mu

another cute poem by Kenneth Koch, enjoy

Permanently

　　
　　One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.
　　An Adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.
　　The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.
　　The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence. 　
　　
　　Each Sentence says one thing — for example, “Although it
　　was a dark rainy day when the Adjective walked by, I shall
　　remember the pure and sweet expression on her face until
　   the day I perish from the green, effective earth.”
　　Or, “Will you please close the window, Andrew?”
　　Or, for example, “Thank you, the pink pot of flowers on the
　　Windowsill has changed color recently to a light yellow,
　　Due to the heat from the boiler factory which exists nearby.”
　　
　　In the springtime the Sentences and the Nouns lay silently on
　　the grass.
　　A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, “And!
　　But!”
　　But the Adjective did not emerge.

　　
　　As the adjective is lost in the sentence, 　　
　　So I am lost in your eyes, nose, and throat—
　　You have enchanted me with a single kiss
　　Which can never be undone
　　Until the destruction of language.