(855–930)
To the Tune:
The Wine Spring
Eternal autumn rain—evening sounds
die out among the dying lotuses.
How can she bear to listen?
Wine has muddied her thinking.
And yet her thoughts continue like rain
after the candle has guttered,
after the incense burned.
—Almost at dawn,
when the misty rain is coldest,
it steals in through her screen.
§
The Wine Spring
Rain falls on fallen flowers
perfuming the edge of the pond
where she grieves through long separation.
When the song closes,
she closes her silver screen.
Night and day, sailboats leave for Ch’u.
In her pain, she tunes her lute.
The melody carries her grief,
and words vibrate in the strings,
words she cannot bear to sing.
§