MY LITTLE BOAT IS MADE OF EBONY; MY FLUTE-STOPS ARE PURE GOLD. WATER LOOSENS STAINS FROM SILK ... WINE LOOSENS SADNESS FROM THE HEART.
WITH GOOD WINE, A GRACEFUL BOAT, AND A SWEET GIRL’S LOVE ... WHY BE JEALOUS OF MERE GODS? [Li Po]
A LADY FROM AFAR
THAT NIGHT ... A NIGHT IN EARLY AUTUMN ... WE SAILED TO THE ISLE OF PARROTS. THERE WE GAZED AT THE ROUND MOON, AND LISTENED TO THE WINDY PINES.
SUDDENLY WE HEARD MUSIC ... A SAD SONG COMING ON THE WIND. THERE WAS A SINGER IN A BOAT.
AS IT DREW NEAR US WE SAW A WOMAN, WHITE AS SNOW, SINGING AND CRYING TOO, LEANING ON THE MAST. MY COMPANIONS ASKED HER WHY SHE WEPT?... WITHOUT AN ANSWER SHE LOWERED HER HEAD, VEILING HER WHITE FACE IN HER GOLDEN HAIR. [Pe Kin-yi]
TO THE DANCING-GIRL SIAO-LING
YOU CALLED FOR POEMS ABOUT TWILIGHT. EACH TWILIGHT NOW BRINGS MEMORIES OF THE SOFT BLUE DRESS YOU WORE ... THAT DAY IN THE PALACE WHEN YOU READ AND JUDGED THEM.
IF MINE WAS JUDGED THE BEST ... YOU SEE, THERE WAS A VISION OF YOU, A VISION IN BLUE VEILS, IN THE BLUE DAWN WHEN I COULD NOT SLEEP. SO I GOT UP FROM BED AND WROTE THE POEM FOR YOU ...
BUT YOU SLEPT ON UNKNOWING IN THAT EARLY DAWN. YOU DID NOT PEEP OUT FROM THE JADE FLOWER PAVILION TO SEE ROSES BLOOMING IN THE SKY ABOVE THE PALACE. IN THAT SAME PALACE ONCE, FOR LOVE OF HER, WOU-TI MADE EMPRESS A LOVELY DANCING-GIRL LIKE YOU. [Tsiang-Tien]