The first letter of Han Shan’s
Last name makes a dollar sign
Without bars or a plain double
Clef without benefit of scroll.
Yet, for all the semiotics,
Han is penniless and cannot carry
A tune in a handbag, not knowing
One note from another, and finding
It impossible to lift his voice
An octave with the aid of a manure Fork.
Yet once, when walking
In a winter wood, his was the charming
Gratuity of chancing upon a snake’s
Ivory spine torsioned across
Old leaves on Christmas morning.
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