Tides
Wang Jiaxin

Under the moon
The sea heaves tides of love

More roused
The nearer the moon is to the earth
Tide upon tide
Heaves shoreward
In agonizing search

The coy moon blushes
—Though the sea has never
Sucked gently at her lips
The sea
Takes only from the lunar flow of light
A deep excitement
The snow-white love tide
Now surging
Now receding
—Ever coming and turning
With life

But he cannot
Take in the moon
—As the sea knows
And carries back in silence to his depths
Only her winsome image
As if to let shells that conceive pearls
Catch a grain of sand
And shut tight again
An eternal riddle to tide watchers
Quiet
And acquiescent.