Would that we might for ever stay
The rainbow glories of the world,
The blue of the unfathomed sea,
The parrot of a greener spring,
The willows and the terrace line,
The stranger from the night-steeped hills,
The roselit brimming cup of wine.
Oh for a life that stretched afar,
Where no dead dust of books were rife,
Where spring sang clear from star to star;
Alas! what hope for such a life?
Ssu-K’ung T’u [Sikong Tu] (834 - 903) China
Translated by L. Cranmer-Byng
Source: A Lute of Jade : Selections from the Classical Poets of China, by L. Cranmer-Byng, 1909
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