<p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block"><b>Half-life adrift—a dream that melts at </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>dawn, </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>Through mists of endless roads, </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>alone, unbound. </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>By sleet and biting snow my soul was </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>gnawed, </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>Yet bowed to fate’s decree, profound.</b></p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block"><b>What flowed away now streams </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>where no trace stays; </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>The years to come, to blessèd </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>breeze, I lease. </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>Reclined, I heed the cataract’s chant </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>cascade </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>To pools where jade and echoes meet </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>in peace; </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>Through veiled peaks wreathed in </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>clouds, my spirit strays— </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>Where phoenix pine and mist </b></p><p class="ql-block"><b>compose release.</b></p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block"><b>—Autumn, 2024 </b></p><p class="ql-block"><br></p><p class="ql-block"><b>in Puyang China</b></p>