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Wei Ying-wu (737–792) wrote this poem to Ch’iu Tan, the younger brother of Ch’iu Wei. Wei Ying-wu was serving as prefect of Suchou at the time, and Ch’iu Tan had served briefly as his secretary. However, Ch’iu decided he would rather cultivate the Tao, and he quit his post, crossed the Yangtze, and retired to a hermitage on Pingshan, just outside the northwest gate of Yangchou. Pingshan was also the location of Taming Temple. Several decades earlier, the Buddhist monk Chien-chen left this temple and traveled to Japan, where he is credited with introducing Buddhism, Chinese medicine, and the Chinese language to the Japanese. Thus, the slopes of Pingshan, which was not a large mountain, were not exactly deserted. Still, this was the eighth full moon, or the Mid-Autumn Festival, when relatives and friends normally spend the night together, and Wei tries to imagine how lonely his friend must feel. Pine nuts remain an important source of food for recluses in China. But here, Wei uses them to emphasize Ch’iu Tan’s isolation, where the only sound is that of falling pinecones. Note, too, that the summers are sweltering in this part of China, and any sign of autumn is welcome—especially the first breath of cool air.

To Secretary Ch’iu on an Autumn Night

WEI YING-WU

Out walking and singing of cooler days

I think of you on an autumn night

pinecones falling on deserted slopes

the recluse I suspect not yet asleep