The Moon's pure light is shining
Upon my lonely bed;
The 'Star-Stream's'[18] westward flowing,
The night is not far sped.
The Cowherd and the Spinning-Girl[19]
Lament the doom that bars
The meeting of true lovers,
Across the Stream of Stars.
What folly did they ponder
To meet so dire a fate?
I wonder if we also
Are doomed to trial as great!
[17] In this poem the thoughts of a woman, whose husband is engaged in the wars beyond the frontier, are described by the poet.
[18] The Milky Way.
[19] K'ien-Niu (Cowherd) and Chih-Nü (Spinning-Girl) are the names of two stars and, according to a Chinese legend, these two stars are lovers doomed to gaze at each other across the wide 'River of Stars'; i.e. the Milky Way, but never meet. According to one version of the legend, however, the lovers are allowed to meet once a year, on the seventh night of the Seventh Month, when birds form a bridge over the 'River of Stars' to enable the Spinning-Girl to meet her lover.
Farewell to a Comrade
BY CHEN KIA-CHOW
T'ang Dynasty