No More Learning

Startled sands blur the desert sun;
Flying snows bewilder the Tartar sky.
Lice swarm in our plumed caps and tiger coats;
Our spirits tremble like the flags we raise to the wind.
Hard fighting gets no reward or praise;
Steadfastness and truth cannot be rightly known.
Who was sorry for Li, the Swift of Wing,[16]
When his white head vanished from the Three Fronts? [17]

[16] Li Kuang, died 125 B. C.

[17] Manchurian, Mongolian and Turkestan frontiers.


III. 1. THE DISTANT PARTING

Long ago there were two queens[18] called Huang and Ying. And they
stood on the shores of the Hsiao-hsiang, to the south of Lake
Tung-t'ing. Their sorrow was deep as the waters of the Lake that
go straight down a thousand miles. Dark clouds blackened the sun.
Sh? j?
[19] howled in the mist and ghosts whistled in the rain. The
queens said, "Though we speak of it we cannot mend it. High Heaven is
secretly afraid to shine on our loyalty. But the thunder crashes and
bellows its anger, that while Yao and Shun are here they should also be
crowning Yu. When a prince loses his servants, the dragon turns into a
minnow. When power goes to slaves, mice change to tigers.

[18] These queens were the daughters of the Emperor Yao, who gave them
in marriage to Shun, and abdicated in his favour. Shun's ministers
conspired against him and set "the Great Yu" on the throne. A legend
says that the spots on the bamboo-leaves which grow on the Hsiang River
were caused by the tears of these two queens.

[19] I use the Japanese form as being more familiar. A kind of
demon-monkey is meant.

"Some say that Yao is shackled and hidden away, and that Shun has died
in the fields.

"But the Nine Hills of Deceit stand there in a row, each like each;
and which of them covers the lonely bones of the Double-eyed One, our
Master? "

So the royal ladies wept, standing amid yellow clouds. Their tears
followed the winds and waves, that never return. And while they wept,
they looked out into the distance and saw the deep mountain of Tsang-wu.