No More Learning

The clouds above are floating across the sky:
Swiftly, swiftly passing: or blending together.
The waves in the wind lose their fixed place
And are rolled away each to a corner of Heaven.
From now onwards--long must be our parting.
So let us stop again for a little while.
I wish I could ride on the wings of the morning wind
And go with you right to your journey's end.

Li Ling and Su Wu were both prisoners in the land of the Huns. After
nineteen years Su Wu was released. Li Ling would not go back with him.
When invited to do so, he got up and danced, singing:

I came ten thousand leagues
Across sandy deserts
In the service of my Prince,
To break the Hun tribes.
My way was blocked and barred,
My arrows and sword broken.
My armies had faded away,
My reputation had gone.

* * * * *

My old mother is long dead.
Although I want to requite my Prince
How can I return?


LAMENT OF HSI-CHUN

About the year 110 B. C.
a Chinese Princess named Hsi-chun was sent, for
political reasons, to be the wife of a central Asian nomad king, K'un
Mo, king of the Wu-sun. When she got there, she found her husband old
and decrepit. He only saw her once or twice a year, when they drank a
cup of wine together. They could not converse, as they had no language
in common.

My people have married me
In a far corner of Earth:
Sent me away to a strange land,
To the king of the Wu-sun.
A tent is my house,
Of felt are my walls;
Raw flesh my food
With mare's milk to drink.
Always thinking of my own country,
My heart sad within.
Would I were a yellow stork
And could fly to my old home!


CH'IN CHIA

Ch'in Chia (first century A. D. ) was summoned to take up an appointment
at the capital at a time when his wife was ill and staying with her
parents. He was therefore unable to say goodbye to her, and sent her
three poems instead. This is the last of the three.

Solemn, solemn the coachman gets ready to go:
"Chiang, chiang" the harness bells ring.
At break of dawn I must start on my long journey:
At cock-crow I must gird on my belt.
I turn back and look at the empty room:
For a moment I almost think I see you there.