LXXIV

THE CANDLE CASTS DARK SHADOWS

The candle casts dark shadows

On the mother of pearl screen.

Slowly, slowly, the Milky Way

Goes down the sky. The stars go out.

Girl in the moon, are you sorry

You stole the herb of immortality,

And night after night have to

Watch over the distant, emerald

Sea and the boundless jeweled sky?

LI SHANG YIN