ETERNALLY THINKING OF EACH OTHER

BY LI T'AI-PO

(The Woman Speaks)

The colour of the day is over; flowers hold the mist in their lips.

The bright moon is like glistening silk. I cannot sleep for grief.

The tones of the Chao psaltery begin and end on the bridge of the silver-crested love-pheasant.

I wish I could play my Shu table-lute on the mandarin duck strings.

The meaning of this music—there is no one to receive it.

I desire my thoughts to follow the Spring wind, even to the Swallow Mountains.