Tuesday, January 20, 2026

Seeing an Old Friend Off on a Summer Evening by Daniel Skach-Mills

Rockery with Waterfall Lan Su Chinese Garden - Portland, Oregon

Seeing an Old Friend Off 

On a Summer Evening

Lan Su Chinese GardenPortland, Oregon

After Wei Feng

Waterfall is flowing.

Summer air is still.

Over tea, our talk about Li Po

and Du Fu lasts long.

How eloquently Wei Feng put it when he said:

Poetic minds complete the greater elegance.

Cicadas keening, crickets chirping,

we pass the hours, dawn till dusk,

with ease.

Infrequent visits

make parting even harder. 

Will lakes and mountains find us enjoying 

the quiet pool of one another's

company again?

The snowmelt of age— 

who can restrain it?

Though I close my gate 

securely behind you,

years still enter

and leave.



Daniel Skach-Mills

Daniel Skach-Mills’ poetry has appeared in Braided Way, SojournersSufi (Featured Poet), and Kosmos Journal. His book, The Hut Beneath the Pine: Tea Poemswas a 2012 Oregon Book Award finalist. A former Trappist monk, Daniel resides in Portland, Oregon, where he has served for fifteen years as a docent at Lan Su Chinese Garden.



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Seeing an Old Friend Off on a Summer Evening by Daniel Skach-Mills

Rockery with Waterfall Lan Su Chinese Garden - Portland, Oregon Seeing an Old Friend Off  On a Summer Evening Lan Su Chinese Garden — Port...