since it would please you I'll take what's in my heart and set to a sonnet

It's been a long time since you've read any of my poems, you say 

It's because I haven't written anything, but if I had 

How would things stand? 

If there's anything I have a handle on 

It's the written word 

And since it would please you 

I'll take what's in my heart and set to a sonnet 

You start it, and I'll carry on 

You dance inside it 

Freeze, then change 

If I really believed in written words 

And the perfection of worn-out forms, alas, alas 

I might not also be able to believe that our lives will conclude 

In a wondrous reunion after all 

 

[Xi Xi {Xī Xī} {1938- } 'Sonnet' {trans. from the Chinese by Andrea Lingenfelter}, from Language for a New Century]