Classic Poem

East of the eastern ocean
a hundred thousand miles from this land
there is an island called Vast Island,
five hundred miles square.
All around are waves of jasper,
breakers of jade that rise and fall;
and on it nine peaks like Lo-fu's sacred range.
The weather is like springtime
throughout all the year;
bejeweled flowers and gemstone trees
never know the autumns of this world.
There the man-bird frolics with sky-deer,
and chimes of magic stone ring out.
The oranges are big as cauldrons,
the lotus leaves the size of boats;
white phoenixes as large as chickens,
red fish enormous, just like cows!
Blue-eyed immortal youths, black hair
and purple robes
gather on the island to caper night and day.
The Man of Tao of Iron Cliff,
constricted by the world's nine continents,
rides the wind and navigates
the seafoam to the east.
At first all dark, the heavens open:
the moon seems full of snow—
he dons embroidered cloak and enters
a tower of yellow gold.
In the tower, the immortals
lord it over this realm beyond the world.
With jasper mouth-organs they entice
the cranes from Mt. Kou's peak.
They play with jade sceptres,
shattering coral hooks.
They summon Recluse Yüan,
nobly singing from the western reaches of the sea.
Up a long ladder he climbs
to pluck seventy-two clusters
of green lotus.
He orders the Jade Dragon
to plow 36,000 acres
of the K'un-lun mountain range.
The Yellow River, dark and shallow,
he sees far down below.
“May the Old Men of this Ocean Mansion
increase my tallies of long life!”