Grace and I ride the electric cart
\nup the rocky canyon of the Xia Yan River
\nstop for juice at the crazy bridges crossing
\nchoosing the one with rollers to reach the other side.
\nA boatman urges us to rent his bamboo raft,
\npoling along beside the path to persuade us.
\nAbove us oaks and pines begin to appear
\nin the crevices of the high cliffs.
\nAround us families, all Chinese,
\nenjoy the scenery, the water,
\nthe funny ways of my lady and me.
\nWe are the only westerners in this beautiful canyon.<\/p>\n

Grace rests at a riverside shop
\nwith necklaces, bracelets, and cold drinks.
\nI walk up the river far beyond the reach of electric carts,
\nphotographing flowers, ferns,
\na butterfly at rest on a fan of white flowers..
\nI watch the light and shadows move across
\na high mountain valley rising above me.
\nI pass a dozen rickshas sitting at odd angles
\ntheir bearers too engaged in a card game by the river
\nto invite me to ride like the leisure class of old.<\/p>\n

Far up the canyon an old man sits on a stone by the path.
\nHe speaks loudly to me hoping to break through my ignorance.
\nFinally he carefully unwraps the cloth covered box
\nhe has carried for many kilometers,
\nopens its lid, and holds up a still frozen bar of sweet green ice.
\nHe motions me to sit on a stone beside him
\nto enjoy this amazing delight.<\/p>\n

When I return to Grace she is using our phrase book
\nto talk with the woman who sells necklaces and snacks.
\nYou’\u0092d think they were dear old friends,
\nthe way they look at each other.
\nShe admires my lady’s earrings and Grace makes them a gift.
\nHer new friend\u0092’s face opens like the clearing sky
\nI saw lighting the mountains
\njust beyond the place where the butterfly rested. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grace and I ride the electric cart up the rocky canyon of the Xia Yan River stop for juice at the crazy bridges crossing choosing the one with rollers to reach the other side. A boatman urges us to rent his bamboo raft, poling along beside the path to persuade us. Above us oaks and … Continue reading Bing Yu Guo<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[23,22,21],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems-for-grace","tag-bing-yu-guo","tag-china","tag-travels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303,"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions\/303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grace.ernestlowe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}