River IJ (eye)

A horst of red light
Like a beard of fire
Blowing over the water
Silhouetting a boat

The poem unfolds
Under my eyes
On a clear night
Along the River IJ

Like a scene from ‘Cathay’
Of stylized trees
Untouched by the breeze
That I feel from the shore

A fragile garden
On embroidered cloth
I try to remember
The particular detail

How in darkness the boats
Move, like elusive words
The single red light
Blinking out in a warehouse

But wavering I remember
Only partial detail
I could paint this river
A hundred times