The Jade Mountain/A Song of a Prince Deposed
A SONG OF A PRINCE DEPOSED
(Written to Music)
Along the wall of the Capital a white-headed crowFlies to the Gate where Autumn Enters and screams there in the night,Then turns again and pecks among the roofs of a tall mansionWhose lord, a mighty mandarin, has fled before the Tartars,With his golden whip now broken, his nine war-horses dead And his own flesh and bone scattered to the winds. . . .There's a rare ring of green coral underneath the vestOf a Prince at a street-corner, bitterly sobbing,Who has to give a false name to anyone who asks him—Just a poor fellow, hoping for employment.A hundred days' hiding in grasses and thornsShow on his body from head to foot.But, since their first Emperor, all with hook-noses,These Dragons look different from ordinary men.Wolves are in the palace now and Dragons are lost in the desert—O Prince, be very careful of your most sacred person!I dare not address you long, here by the open road,Nor even to stand beside you for more than these few moments.Last night with the spring-wind there came a smell of blood;The old Capital is full of camels from the east.Our northern warriors are sound enough of body and of hand—Oh, why so brave in olden times and so craven now?Our Emperor, we hear, has given his son the throneAnd the southern border-chieftains are loyally inclinedAnd the Hua-mên and Li-mien tribes are gathering to avenge us.But still be careful—keep yourself well hidden from the dagger.Unhappy Prince, I beg you, be constantly on guard—Till power blow to your aid from the Five Imperial Tombs.
(4d, 92)