The Jade Mountain/A Song of Lu Mountain
A SONG OF LU MOUNTAIN
To Censor Lu Hsü-Chou
I am the madman of the Ch'u countryWho sang a mad song disputing Confucius.. . . Holding in my hand a staff of green jade,I have crossed, since morning at the Yellow Crane Terrace,All five Holy Mountains, without a thought of distance,According to the one constant habit of my life.. . . Lu Mountain stands beside the Southern DipperIn clouds reaching silken like a nine-panelled screen,With its shadows in a crystal lake deepening the green water.The Golden Gate opens into two mountain-ranges.A silver stream is hanging down to three stone bridgesWithin sight of the mighty Tripod Falls.Ledges of cliff and winding trails lead to blue skyAnd a flush of cloud in the morning sun,Whence no flight of birds could be blown into Wu.. . . I climb to the top. I survey the whole world.I sce the long river that runs beyond return,Yellow clouds that winds have driven hundreds of 'milesAnd a snow-peak whitely circled by the swirl of a ninefold stream.And so I am singing a song of Lu Mountain,A song that is born of the breath of Lu Mountain.. . . Where the Stone Mirror makes the heart's purity purerAnd green moss has buried the footsteps of Hsieh,I have eaten the immortal pellet and, rid of the world's troubles,Before the lute's third playing have achieved my element. Far away I watch the angels riding coloured cloudsToward heaven's Jade City, with hibiscus in their hands.And so, when I have traversed the nine sections of the world,I will follow Saint Lu-ao up the Great Purity.