The Jade Mountain/To a Friend Bound North after the Rebellion

by Sikong Shu

TO A FRIEND BOUND NORTH
AFTER THE REBELLION

In dangerous times we two came south;Now you go north in safety, without me.But remember my head growing white among strangers,When you look on the blue of the mountains of home.. . . The moon goes down behind a ruined fort,Leaving star-clusters above an old gate . . .There are shivering birds and withering grasses,Whichever way I turn my face.