Li He

The River of Heaven wheels round at night Drifting the circling stars, At Silver Bank*, the floating clouds Mimic the murmur of water.…

No one attacks it with a long lance, No one plies a strong cross-bow. Suckling its grandsons, rearing its cubs, It trains them into savagery.…

Willow catkins beat at the curtains, Under sweltering spring clouds. Screen of tortoise-shell And dazzling clothes.…

Flowers on ancient plinths of stone, Nine pillars in a row, Blood of slaughtered leopards dripping Into silver pots.…

The valiant-hearted, Riding alone on Scarlet Hare, Out of the gates of Ch'in, To weep at Gold Grain Mound…

Strumming his lute, high on a crag of stone, Sits an immortal sylph flapping his wings. White tail-plumes of a simurgh in his hand, He sweeps the clouds at night from the Southern…

Flying lights, flying lights, I pledge you a cup of wine. I do not know if the blue heavens are high, The yellow earth is rich,…

Hsi and Ho gallop their six steeds Days and nights leave us no leisure, Chasing the crow to Mount Yan-zi's bamboos, They flog their horses with a Coiling Peach whip.…

Silk from Wu, paulownia from Shu, Strummed in high autumn, In the white sky the frozen clouds Falling, not floating.…

Long songs have split the collar of my robe, Short songs have cropped my whitening hair. The king of Ch'in is nowhere to be seen, So dawn and dusk fever burns in me.…

A cluster of emeralds Piercing high heaven! Over the Great River's swelling waves Spirits trail their mist.…

In the Mao-ling tomb lies the lad named Liu, Guest of the autumn wind. At night we hear his whinnying horse At dawn not a hoof-print there.…

Dew upon lonely orchids Like tear-brimmed eyes. No twining of love-knots, Mist-wreathed flowers I cannot bear to cut.…

Straddling a tiger, the King of Ch'in Roams the Eight Poles, His glittering sword lights up the sky, Heaven turns sapphire.…

Budding branches, stems of flowers, Blossom while I watch. Touched with white and streaked with crimson Cheeks fo a girl from Yue,…