On the wu-tung tree, phoenix and mate grow old together;
Duck and drake cleave to each other till death.
A chaste wife will gladly die with her husband,
Taking leave of life like drake and phoenix.
She will not break faith like the changeable sea waves;
A wife's heart is like the water in an old well.
Meng Jiao (751 – 814) China
Translator not stated
Source: The British Museum Chinese Love Poetry, edited by Jane Portal, British Museum Press, 2004
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