Fox Footprints/Moon Over China
Moon Over China
Moon over China,
Weary moon on the river of the sky
The stir of light in the willows is like the flashing of a thousand minnows
Through dark shoals.
The tiles on the graves and rotting temples shine like ripples,
The sands of deserts, and the great shoulders of treeless mountains whiten austerely in its rays.
The sky is flecked with clouds like the scales of a dragon,
And the beggars lying beneath the city walls huddled together, whine
"It will rain on us before another nightfall."
Weary moon on the river of the sky
The stir of light in the willows is like the flashing of a thousand minnows
Through dark shoals.
The tiles on the graves and rotting temples shine like ripples,
The sands of deserts, and the great shoulders of treeless mountains whiten austerely in its rays.
The sky is flecked with clouds like the scales of a dragon,
And the beggars lying beneath the city walls huddled together, whine
"It will rain on us before another nightfall."