109

Yeh Shao-weng (fl. 1200–1250) was from Lishui near the southern border of Chekiang province. Little else is known about him, other than that he served as an academician in the imperial archives in Hangchou and wrote in the unadorned style advocated by the Rivers and Lakes school of poetry. The Chinese often use moss as a ground cover in their gardens, and the clogs, which the Japanese still wear at home and at public baths, had two high wooden ridges on the bottom, one in front and one in back. The front ridge helped when going uphill, the back ridge when going downhill. And together they kept one’s feet above the mud. The red blossoms are those of the apricot. The last line is quite famous but was originally part of an earlier poem by Lu Yu (1125–1210) entitled “Written on Horseback.” There is also a nearly identical poem by Chang Liang-ch’en, a fellow member of the Rivers and Lakes school of poetry, entitled “Occasional Poem,” but it’s impossible to tell who is quoting whom. A variant of the second line reads: “I knocked ten times, nine times without success.” But that would suggest the owner finally opened his gate, which would seem at odds with the title as well as with the last couplet. Another variant has “I knocked lightly, but his gate stayed closed.” But why lightly? Finally, some editions attribute this poem to Yeh Shih (1150–1223).

Visiting a Private Garden without Success

YEH SHAO-WENG

It must be because he hates clogs on his moss

I knocked ten times still his gate stayed closed

but spring can’t be kept locked in a garden

a branch of red blossoms reached past the wall