Ancestral Spirits Poem by William He

Ancestral Spirits
By William He

The smoke congeals,
Cold breeze chokes,
Embers morph to black plumes.
Incense dust falls on ancestral stones,
Looking at the place of moss shadows,
Ancestors tongue tied.
Kneeling toward boundless earth,
Against reed mats, dew heavy.
At this moment,
As dark musings surge like tides,
Flooding the weathered stele drenching parched bones.

Paper steeds trample flames to charred pyres,
The Manes scatter,
Dissolving into drifting fireflies here.
Hoofprints stamped with spirit coins,
Follow the fading stream,
Vanishing at the end of dusk.
Cool cups float with foam,
It must be the tears of the heavenly deity pouring down.
In the twilight,
Willows sway and ripple,
Faintly hearing the soul-calling words.

雨霖铃 乙巳清明
作者：何威廉

烟凝云恤，
引凉风咽，
烬化神帛。
香尘堕于碑面，
观苔影处，
先人矜立。
跪向苍茫厚土，
共蒲席浆液。
奈此际、
幽绪回潮，
沁透残碑浸枯脉。

纸驹踏焰成埃墨，
领鬃飞、
散作流萤恻。
蹄痕印着冥币，
随逝日、
暗消沦失。
烛泪黏盘，
疑是天公，
乍泣涔滴。
暮色里、
垂柳摇波，
只见亡魂悒。