It's festival time in China...and the country reverberates to the sound of firecrackers...the best ones are the ones that whoosh into the sky and burst like an orgasm of light and colour, sometims raining seminal tracks down to the earth...yes, the country is in the throes of festivities.

But, I...so alone, sometimes watch the colour of others' pleasures with a tinge of lonely enviousness...reminds me of Diwali back home...

On the streets, bands of young men and women laugh happily, freed from daily chores and responsibilities...For a few days now, their time is theirs...For a few days now, they will live their dreams...Students have left their books, studies and cares behind in schools and colleges while the older ones have left their pains in their workplaces...For now, it's festival time.

For some, like students and teachers, their freedom will last until the third week of February....and some who work in commercial enterprises and other organizations it will last a short week. Festivities, however, will continue for fifteen days. Today is the first of the fifteen dreamdays.

Last night on the eve of the Chinese New Year, there was an orgy of firecrackers....like millions of desirous beings bursting out together, moaning, giggling, sighing and thunderously releasing their pent-up energy into the sky and earth.

And, my release? What about my release, you ask? Hehehe..it's subdued and alone...like a quiet, slow masturbation, typing on this keyboard. Not that much of a release, really....but better than nothing...It's the morning of the new year...and Khayyam comes to mind:

“The new year reviving old desires
the thoughtful soul to solitude retires
where the white hand of Moses puts out
and Jesus from the ground suspires.”

...I hope the recall is correct...and that reminds me of a poem, I wrote a few days ago...when Huainan was draped in the white of snow, that later was not so white any more...perhaps, more of that later...first, the poem...but, please excuse the absence of all punctuation (intentinoal)...

She's dressed...

she's dressed in bridal white

that she tried on while all was bathed in night

and when the eyes of day opened wide

the bride in white was clearly spied

the earth today will wed her mate

she hopes the groom will not be late

or her gown of white will be sullied so

the groom and his friends will never know

today a wedding must surely take place

to beat time again in an unequal race

today the bride has dressed in white

and she must wed before it's night.

Happy Spring Festival...to all of you who cannot see what my eyes do...

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