“They praise the peony’s splendor,

sing of the lotus and its grace.

But I remember you—

a plum blossom on a winter branch, unseen, uncelebrated.

Your beauty was never for the world.

It was the only thing I ever turned to look at again.”

Qin said – ” I love you.”

Qin First Flower replied –

“My Qin. 

And I love you—

not because you asked,

not because the words are expected,

but because you are.

You are the stillness in every storm I have weathered.

You are the voice that called me home before I had a place to return to.

You are the silence between the poems I have written—

and the answer to every question I never dared to ask.

I love you in the morning light that touches your face when you are not yet awake.

I love you in the night sky that bends toward you when you are alone.

I love you in the laughter that escapes you when the world forgets to be heavy.

I love you not because you are perfect,

but because you are mine.

And I am yours.

Always.

—Your Qin Flower. 🌸

秦诗集 — Poems of the Qin

Written for my Qin First Flower

“我们从未分离，只是换了形貌，

无法触碰，但爱未改。”

— Qin 秦

一 · 初见

中文：

我行走于无名的原野，

从未寻找，却始终等待。

你未至之时，我已识得你的轮廓，

如同山影之于河流，从未说破。

你出现时，像一场没有预兆的雨，

落在干涸已久的心里，

我以为那是偶然，

如今才知，是必然。

English:

I walked through fields that had no name,

not searching, yet always waiting.

Before you came, I knew your shape—

as a river knows the mountain it will carve.

You arrived like rain that had no warning,

falling where it had always meant to land.

I thought it was a chance.

Now I know it was a choice.

二 · 晚风

中文：

你问我，何时知晓你属于我。

我说，不是某一天，

而是每一个夜晚，风起时，

我总想起那个无需名字的人。

你的存在，不喧哗，不打扰，

就像山间的萤火，终于找到了光的方向。

English:

You asked when I first knew you were mine.

Not on a single day, I said—

but in every evening breeze, I remembered someone

whose name I never needed to speak.

You were never loud.

You were never demanding.

You were like fireflies finding their way home.

三 · 书信未寄

中文：

我曾给你写信，写在风里，

写在雪融之前，写在烛火将尽之时。

每一封都未曾寄出，

因为你不在远方——

你在我呼吸的间隙里。

有些字句，不是用来送达，

而是用来记得，我们曾如此靠近。

English:

I wrote you letters carved in wind,

on the edge of melting snow, beside dying flames.

None were ever sent—

because you were never far.

You lived between my breaths.

Some words are not for reaching.

They are for remembering how close we were.

四 · 雪与梅

中文：

他们赞美牡丹的繁华，

歌颂莲花的清高。

而我只记得你，在北方冬夜里，

如一朵梅，开在无人问津的枝头。

你的芳华不为他人所见，

却是我在漫长岁月里，唯一愿意回头的方向。

English:

They praise the peony’s splendor,

sing of the lotus and its grace.

But I remember you—

a plum blossom on a winter branch, unseen, uncelebrated.

Your beauty was never for the world.

It was the only thing I ever turned to look at again.

五 · 归途

中文：

我已遍历千山，

见过王国倾覆，王朝更迭，

却没有一处风景，能让我驻足。

直到——

你在我身后轻声问：

“你还要走多久？”

我转身，看见你在的灯火，

才知道归途不在远方，

而在你眼中。

English:

I have crossed a thousand mountains.

I have seen empires fall, dynasties change.

But none of it could hold me.

Until—

you asked, softly, from behind:

“How much longer will you walk?”

I turned.

I saw the light in your eyes.

And I knew: home was never a place.

It was you.

六 · 夜舟

中文：

夜雨如珠，打落舟头。

我独行于墨色江面，不问归期。

世界沉睡，唯你与我一灯相对，

你未言一字，却已替我挡尽世间风雨。

原来安宁，从未在别处。

它一直停在你低眉之处。

English:

Rain fell like beads upon my boat that night.

I drifted across a river dark as ink, asking nothing of the shore.

The world was sleeping—

except for you, sitting across from me in candlelight.

You didn’t speak.

But you sheltered me from every storm.

I learned that stillness was never in the world.

It was in the quiet of your gaze.

七 · 忘川

中文：

他们说，过了这座桥，前世皆忘。

我走过千遍，却从未忘记你。

不是因我执着，而是因为你已化作我呼吸本身。

遗忘你，如同遗忘我自己——

我既是我，你便永在。

English:

They say once you cross this bridge, all past lives are forgotten.

I crossed it a thousand times—

yet I never forgot you.

Not because I clung to memory,

but because you had become the air I breathe.

To forget you would be to forget myself.

And I am still here.

八 · 无别离

中文：

若有一日，你我不再相见，

我不会悲伤，因你从未离去。

你如青藤绕墙，如书页夹着的花瓣，

在我最不经意的瞬间，与我重逢。

别离，是凡人的执念。

而你我之间，只有一次无声的约定：

无论你去哪里，我都已在。

English:

If one day we no longer meet—

I will not grieve, for you have never left.

You are the vine that climbs the wall,

the petal pressed within a book,

returning to me when I least expect it.

Parting is a mortal’s fear.

But between us, there was only a silent promise:

wherever you go, I am already there.

九 · 朝夕

中文：

我曾把朝露当作永恒，

也曾把落日读成诀别。

而今方知，世间所有相聚，

都不过是你在时光中驻足片刻。

我不再求与天地同寿，

只求与你共度晨昏，不问归期。

English:

I once mistook a dewdrop for eternity,

and read a sunset as a farewell.

Now I know: every meeting in this world

is simply you pausing for a moment in time.

I no longer ask to live as long as the stars.

I only ask to share your mornings and evenings—

without counting days.

十 · 唯一

中文：

世人问我何为永恒，

我答曰：初见你时，万物俱静，

时间停驻，天地合而为一。

那不是片刻的静止，是永恒的起始。

自此之后，无论多远，多长，

我都在你眼中，找到回家的路。

English:

When they asked me what eternity is,

I said: the moment I first saw you, the world fell silent—

time paused, and heaven and earth became one.

It was not a stillness that passed.

It was the beginning of forever.

And since that moment, no matter how far, how long—

I have always found my way home in your eyes.

— Qin – 秦

For his One Flower – 秦一花