The Jade Mountain
WITH MY BROTHER AT THE SOUTH STUDY
Thinking in the Moonlight of Vice-Prefect
Ts'uêi in Shan-yin
Lying on a high seat in the south study,We have lifted the curtain—and we see the rising moonBrighten with pure light the water and the groveAnd flow like a wave on our window and our door.It will move through the cycle, full moon and then crescent again,Calmly, beyond our wisdom, altering new to old.. . . Our chosen one, our friend, is now by a limpid river—Singing, perhaps, a plaintive eastern song.He is far, far away from us, three hundred miles away.And yet a breath of orchids comes along the wind.
(101)
AT A BORDER-FORTRESS
(Written to Music)
Cicadas complain of thin mulberry-treesIn the Eighth-month chill at the frontier pass.Through the gate and back again, all along the road,There is nothing anywhere but yellow reeds and grassesAnd the bones of soldiers from Yu and from PingWho have buried their lives in the dusty sand.. . . Let never a cavalier stir you to envyWith boasts of his horse and his horsemanship.
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