"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." - Henry Miller

See the world in green and blue

See China right in front of you

See the canyons broken by cloud

See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out

See the Bedouin fires at night

See the oil fields at first light

And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth

After the flood all the colors came out

-Beautiful Day, U2

Ch?yu?

Paula Berman

I.
The Taiwan moon
keeps her gibbous watch
over jungled mountains.
No ping there lies untouched.
Towns grow,
cities are overgrown,
the hungry jungle eats all:
only the moon knows
what was there.

II.
I have watched her
through inversion haze,
clear desert nights and dust storms.
Shining dim through Northern fogs,
Mirrored by water
in the dark before day.
Pallid at noon,
blazing on midnight snow.
I have not seen the same moon
Twice.

About the Author

Paula Berman is an American expat living in Taiwan with her husband. She works in the semiconductor industry and finds writing poetry a nice change from engineering.

Click here to continue reading the Spring 2009 edition of ExPatLit.com.

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