诗人梅丹理成为中国诗歌网第一位美国注册诗人-凯发娱乐亚洲

after visiting zhuge liang’s shrine

through the ages, in collections of literati works

anyone who made a trip to chengdu

would leave a poem about zhuge liang's shrine.

the 2017 "chengdu international poetry week"

arranged a salon-style gathering for us there; 

indeed the feel of the place is quiet and secluded.

i recall from du fu's poem that it had towering cypresses, 

but i was listening to the pretty guide and forgot to look.

the tour guide summed up zhuge liang's era: 

in a trifecta of kingdoms, many upstart heroes contended.

she worshipfully directed our gaze to liu bei's statue: 

lordly and hugely tolerant, bent on restoring the han.

a listener needled her: was he a legitimate successor? 

she stressed zhuge's loyalty, a wizard who crowned his age, 

moved by liu's selflessness, he left his mountain idyll.

a heckler quipped: in chaotic times people rally around figureheads.

at any rate, seeing a historical figure treated so devoutly

helped to establish a solemn atmosphere for our salon, 

because a man straddled the line between human and divine, 

but his apotheosis happened in the past, and now this place

has been restored as a venue for humanistic gatherings.

from human to divine to human, it was all an aesthetic process.

this kind of conversion gives a taste of the literati ethos, 

which is why joining in this salon felt like coming home.

by denis mair