170 CHINESE LITERATURE
Three thousand peerless beauties adorned
the apartments of the monarch's harem, Yet always his Majesty reserved
his attentions for her alone. Passing her life in a "golden house" l
with fair girls to wait on her, She was daily wafted to ecstasy
on the wine fumes of the banquet-hall. Her sisters and her brothers, one and all,
were raised to the rank of nobles. Alas ! for the ill-omened glories
which she conferred on her family. For thus it came about that fathers and mothers
through the length and breadth of the empire Rejoiced no longer over the birth of sons,
but over the birth of daughters. In the gorgeous palace
piercing the grey clouds above, Divine music, borne on the breeze,
is spread around on all sides ; Of song and the dance
to the guitar and flute, All through the live long day,
his Majesty never tires. But suddenly comes the roll
of the fish-skin war-drums, Breaking rudely upon the air
of the " Rainbow Skirt and Feather Jacket
FLIGHT. Clouds of dust envelop
the lofty gates of the capital. A thousand war-chariots and ten thousand horses
move towards the south-west. Feathers and jewels among the throng,
onwards and then a halt. A hundred \\ beyond the western gate,
leaving behind them the city walls,
1 Referring to A-chiao, one of the consorts of an Emperor of the Han dynasty. "Ah," said the latter when a boy, "if I could only get A-chiao, I would hare a golden house to keep her in."
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