Impressions of a traveller - Kao-Shih

In a silent, desolate spot,
In the night stone-frozen and clear,
The wanderefs hand on the sail
Is gripped by the fingers of fear.

He looketh afar o’er the waves,
Wind-ruffled and deep and green;
And the mantle of Autumn lies
Over wood and hill and ravine.

'Tis Autumn!-time of decay,
And the dead leaves’ ’wildering flight;
And the mantle of Autumn lies
On the wanderers soul to-night!

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Kao-Shih (8th Century) China
Translated by L. Cramner-Byng

Source: A lute of jade: selections from the classical poets of China, rendered with an introduction by L. Cranmer-Byng, 1911