A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/South of the Great Sea

SOUTH OF THE GREAT SEA

My love is living
To the south of the Great Sea.
What shall I send to greet him?
Two pearls and a comb of tortoise-shell:
I'll send them to him packed in a box of jade.
They tell me he is not true:
They tell me he dashed my box to the ground,
Dashed it to the ground and burnt it
And scattered its ashes to the wind.
From this day to the ends of time
I must never think of him.
Never again think of him.
The cocks are crowing.
And the dogs are barking —
My brother and his wife will soon know.^[1]
The autumn wind is blowing;
The morning wind is sighing.
In a moment the sun will rise in the east
And then it too will know.

 

1. I.e., about her engagement being broken off.