Lady of Crimson Red

An opium den floats in haze somewhere in Shanghai

There you sit, Lady of Crimson Red

Marble skin and dark skin

Laughter; scream; sigh; sound of two sticky liquids of joy mixed

You always listen to them with your head slightly tilting

Snow-white skin and sun-tanned skin

Invisible smell of sweat and viscous liquid shimmering above two flesh

You always inhale it

Pearl skin rides on bronze skin: then bronze skin rides on pearl skin to fold it tight

Pearl skin is gradually tinged with rose

You always see it

Therefore you are so deeply red

absorbing the sound, the smell, and the scene into yourself.

rose

Imagine

a ray of light in darkness

There, at the end of the spotlight, you find a crimson red rose

Or, you find

crimson red rose petals lying scattered on the floor

It depends on individual tastes in which one you see the beauty

As far as I'm concerned I am entranced with the latter, rose petals

The petal feels velvet when I pick it up with my fingertips

I wish to fondle the velvet petal forever, gently with my fingertips,

taking care not to make any

scratch on it

Simultaneously I feel an urge to squash it with all the strength of my fingertips,

or get seized with an impulse to scratch the graceful surface of it,

sinking my nails into the velvet