For Kandinsky, from poetryfoundation.org. The rest of the poem may be found here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178480.

from Autumn Psalm / by Jacqueline Osherow, b.1956

For this, I would have to be Chinese,
Wang Wei, to be precise, on a mountain,
autumn rain converging on the trees,

a cassia flower nearby, a cloud, a pine,
washerwomen heading home for the day,
my senses and the mountain so entirely in tune

that when my stroke of blue arrives, I’m ready.
Though there is no rain here: the air’s shot through
with gold on golden leaves.