Poem: Chasing the ghosts

1
I cheer the scenery whizzing by.
Every day it accelerates;

Every day, I slow it down
And watch the show unravel

Into a multi-colored, quadrophonic
Parade of flora and fauna

Spinning Venn Diagrams
Around each other.

2
I think about the Chinese poets
who left some words for me--

A joke or fine riposte
Drunkenly dashed off--

On a piece of frayed silk
With a bamboo brush and ink.

3
I don't chase ghosts any more
But every once in a while,

On a walk along the sound's tideflats,
Or on a street in Istanbul or California,

I look over my shoulder
And catch one following me.

I see a face in the crowd,
With a sad smile and a halo.
---o0o---