The Jade Mountain
Li Ch'i
頎 李
A FAREWELL TO WÊI WAN
BOUND FOR THE CAPITAL
BOUND FOR THE CAPITAL
The travellers' parting-song sounds in the dawn.Last night a first frost came over the river;And the crying of the wildgeese grieves my sad heartBounded by a gloom of cloudy mountains. . . .Herein the Gate City, day will flush coldAnd washing-flails quicken by the gardens at twiloght——How long shall the capital content you,Where the months and the years so vainly go by?
(23)
AN OLD AIR
There once was a man, sent on military missions,A wanderer, from youth, on the Yu and Yen frontiers.Under the horses' hoofs he would meet his foesAnd, recklessly risking his seven-foot body,Would slay whoever dared confrontThose moustaches that bristled like porcupine-quills.
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