Short Poems

All morning long I correct my books, changing " lu " to " yii , "
but doubts are dispelled only when the mind is void.
The door swings open — the south wind enters
and scatters the books all over the floor.

Willow catkins, white as cotton,
the fluff has just appeared;
damson plums, new and green,
the pits have still not formed.
A woman serves wine at the counter
wearing a melon-shaped hat;
a young girl takes a sip of wine,
lips as red as cherries.

This morning the air is fine for Ch'ing-ming;
along the river, wild flowers open everywhere.
An old farmer earnestly carries flowers to the grave:
two butterflies follow him, flying where he goes.

A thousand threads, ten-thousand strands
are tied to the child's arm.
They hope the child will live a good long life,
a year for every inch of cord!

They make a fake tiger, and hope it will seem real,
then hang the ferocious beast outside the door.
If the evil spirits have any brains at all
when they see this thing, they will not be afraid.

You think I am happy:
in my heart, I suffer!
A fake smile on my face, I play the p'i-p'a:
but the tune is wild, music never written down.

Hell is a city much like London--
A populous and a smoky city;
There are all sorts of people undone,
And there is little or no fun done;
Small justice shown, and still less pity.

From the cities where from caves,
Like the dead from putrid graves,
Troops of starvelings gliding come,
Living Tenants of a tomb.

32.
He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty;
And he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

29. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30. They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
32. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.