A Poem by Rose Lu

Childhood Friendship

     -- To Hongzhu, My Friend

To those without close affinity,
Parting means to be parted forever
You and me, having strong appeal to each other
Are fated to meet again to continue our friendship.

When we meet again after an interval of more than twenty years
I see you are still so pure, though suffering a little hair loss.
Others appraise your today
But I can tell what you were when you were a little girl

Who says you are already middle-aged?
That skip before my eyes are clearly
Your childhood smiling face and glow

There are shadows of your childhood
In every of your moves
I can make you return to the childhood you
Even without turning into a fairy to do it.

The brave you once took a pair of scissors
And cut my long braids short
With one stroke.
In those years
We led a sweet life
With empty purses
In those years
We were as charming as lily
Though we couldn't afford slip dresses.

We used to play under the same clover tree
That was a pure land that refused pollution
We used to sing in the same boat
On a holy water that didn't tolerate infringement.

The puerility we made
And the junior years we got through together
Typecast both your life and mine.
Your childhood is mine
And mine is yours

It's true
That mountains may change into seas
And seas may change into mulberry fields
But the unchangeable is childhood friendship,
It's the most beautiful broad accent
It's the origin of life
From there a cluster of white doves
Sets out on a flight toward future.

Rose Lu (Bing hua), originally named Lihua Lu, a popular and famous pure-hearted Chinese-American Poetess, is currently an accountant in Maryland, USA.  Advisor of China Poetry, column poetess of many Literature websites abroad.  She has authored the well-known anthology of poetry, This is Love, and Roses by the Stream, and co-authored Morning Dew and Drifting Petals.  Popular for her beautiful, fluent and pure style.  Each poem is also a statement about her life, that has made readers nod, smile, and shed a tear.  She's been named Rose in Poetry, Woman Sage of Love Lyrics, Angel of Poems, Queen of amatory poems, etc.  "The Heart of a Lotus" won the Gold award in the Love Story world-wide Chinese Poem contest in 2010; "It's Neither Frivolous Nor Drifty" and "A Fan" won the award in XXXI Wold Congress of Poets in 2011.