Idiot Thoughts

Idiot Thoughts

My handsome fatal foe,
why are you gone so long?
I can’t stop my heart from trembling, missing you.
You put some sugar on the tip of my nose.
I cannot lick it,
though it smells so nice.
You leave something sweet behind
and let me think about it slowly.

Anonymous Poetry Collection
by Feng Menglong (1574-1646)

Translated by Tony Barnstone
professor of English at Whittier College