A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/Dreaming of a Dead Lady

by Arthur Waley

DREAMING OF A DEAD LADY

"I heard at night your long sighs
And knew that you were thinking of me."
As she spoke, the doors of Heaven opened
And our souls conversed and I saw her face.
She set me a pillow to rest on
And she brought me meat and drink.

---

I stood beside her where she lay,
But suddenly woke and she was not there:
And none knew how my soul was torn,
How the tears fell surging over my breast.