<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><font size="5"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">At the Equinox</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">The tide ebbs and reveals orange and purple sea stars.</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I have no theory of radiance,</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> but after rain evaporates</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">off pine needles, the needles glisten.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In the courtyard, we spot the rising shell of a moon,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and, at the equinox, bathe in its gleam.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Using all the tides of starlight,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> we find</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> vicissitude is our charm.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">On the mud flats off Homer,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I catch the tremor when waves start to slide back in;</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and, from Roanoke, you carry</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> the leafing jade smoke of willows.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Looping out into the world, we thread</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> and return. The lapping waves</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">cover an expanse of mussels clustered on rocks;</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">and, giving shape to what is unspoken,</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> forsythia buds and blooms in our arms.</span></font><div><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><font size="5"><br></font></span></div><div><font size="5"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></span>- Arthur Sze</font></div></div></body></html>