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Hsieh T’iao (464–499) was known for his landscape poems and built this tower while serving as prefect of Hsuancheng, to which he had been sent at the urging of jealous officials at the Southern Ch’i (479–502) court in Nanching. Li Pai (701–762) also sees himself at the mercy of the T’ang court and combines his own sense of injustice with a landscape poem in Hsieh’s honor. The tower was south of town on the slopes of Lingyang-shan and faced north toward two bridges that spanned one of the two rivers that circled the town. In the second line, some editions have hsiao (dawn) in place of wan (dusk), but Li Pai was never known for getting up early. The paulownia is a large-leafed shade tree that loses its leaves in early autumn.

Climbing Hsieh T’iao’s North Tower in Hsuancheng in Autumn

LI PAI

This river town looks like a painting

mountains at dusk against a clear sky

two rivers frame an unblemished mirror

twin bridges form a rainbow

kitchen smoke and winter oranges

fall colors and leafless paulownias

who thinks of climbing North Tower

of facing the wind and remembering Hsieh T’iao