XXIII

DEEP NIGHT

Deep night. I cannot sleep.

I get up and sing softly to my lute.

Moonlight glows in the gauze curtains.

I open my night gown, and let

The fresh night air bathe my body.

A lonely wild goose cries out

In the distant meadow.

A night bird flies calling through the trees.

I come and go without rest.

What do I gain by it?

My mind is distracted by worries

That will never cease.

My heart is all bruised

By the troubled ghosts who haunt it.

YUAN CHI