One Gaunt Brush
- One Gaunt Brush
after Chen Yinke (1890-1969)
One day your poem, grandfather,accosted me on a silken scroll.
Because we two shared griefas vain men crowd our people's history,
I'm startled into lossand understanding.
Now I liftone gaunt brush,
satiate the horse hairswith tears of lead,
recall mulberry fieldsswallowed by black seas. [End Page 87]
Born in Romania, Vera Schwarcz is a well-known poet and a historian. She is the author of eight books on Chinese and Jewish history including the prize-winning Bridge Across Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory. She has also written four books of poetry, most recently Brief Rest in the Garden of Flourishing Grace and Chisel of Remembrance. Her wide-ranging work has won major awards and is featured on the web @: between2walls.com.
