17.

An Inscription on a Picture Taken by Comrade Li Jin of the Fairy Cave on Lushan

A qijue

September 1961

Mao wrote this poem for his wife Jiang Qing, to comfort and encourage her in the aftermath of the disaster of the Great Leap.

In the growing dusk stand sturdy pines,

tranquil amid the chaos of the clouds.

The Fairy Cave is Heaven-made,

incomparably grand among the perilous and lofty peaks.

_______________

Title, ‘Li Jin’: Li Jin is another name for Jiang Qing.

Title, ‘Fairy Cave’: A famous scenic spot.

Line 4: Borrowing two lines from an erotic work by Linshuan Shanren, an obscure Qing writer.