The Month the Almonds Bloom
ward his verses held a finer lilt, a greater breadth of fancy for they were imbued with the sweet dreams of the Lady Shim Kao. After all love alone is the supreme emotion. No greater thing exists in all the world, greater than gold, more gorgeous than diamonds, more subtle than poppy fragrance and lighter than webs of gossamer.
Woo Fung always carved his Jades before a window that opened into his garden through which essence of pine and sandalwood drifted and the breath of rich pungent spices. He was aware of the lure of exotic, subtle perfumes and with this in mind he had made his garden. All the sweet-breathed flowers grew there beneath grim gingko trees and tranquil willows. A tiny stream tinkled merrily through the center of the garden, laughing and gurgling over the stones that lay in its path. And above the stream, a charming bridge loomed up like a crescent moon. The moon was a favorite subject in the carvings of the Jade of Woo Fung for the moon reminded him of Shun Kao. Her thin eyebrows were like the new moon's crescent, rising in the east when the month is young. Her pale face was like the color of the moon on a frosty night in mid-winter.
So the poet Woo Fung worked at his carvings and as he worked, a strange and beautiful dream grew in his heart. He dreamed of the day when he could build a cherry-roofed house for his lady, surrounded by orange-blossoms and pond-lotuses. They would be
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