A park laid out with scenery surpassing fine and rare!
Submissive to thy will, on boundless bliss bashful I write!
Who could believe that yonder scenes in this world found a share!
Will not thy heart be charmed on thy visit by the sight?
These are the verses by T'an Ch'un on the tablet of "All nature vies in splendour":
Of aspect lofty and sublime is raised a park of fame!
Honoured with thy bequest, my shallow lore fills me with shame.
No words could e'er amply exhaust the beauteous skill,
For lo! in very truth glory and splendour all things fill!
Thus runs Hsi Ch'un's stanza on the tablet of the "Conception of literary compositions":
The hillocks and the streams crosswise beyond a thousand li extend!
The towers and terraces 'midst the five-coloured clouds lofty ascend!
In the resplendent radiance of both sun and moon the park it lies!
The skill these scenes to raise the skill e'en essays to conceive
outvies!
The lines composed by Li Wan on the tablet "grace and elegance," consisted of:
The comely streams and hillocks clear, in double folds, embrace;
E'en Fairyland, forsooth, transcend they do in elegance and grace!
The "Fragrant Plant" the theme is of the ballad fan, green-made.
Like drooping plum-bloom flap the lapel red and the Hsiang gown.
From prosperous times must have been handed down those pearls and
jade.
What bliss! the fairy on the jasper terrace will come down!
When to our prayers she yields, this glorious park to contemplate,
No mortal must e'er be allowed these grounds to penetrate.
The ode by Hsüeh Pao-ch'ai on the tablet of "Concentrated Splendour and
Accumulated auspiciousness" was:
Raised on the west of the Imperial city, lo! the park stored with
fragrant smell,
Shrouded by Phoebe's radiant rays and clouds of good omen, in wondrous
glory lies!
The willows tall with joy exult that the parrots their nests have
shifted from the dell.
The bamboo groves, when laid, for the phoenix with dignity to come,
were meant to rise.
The very eve before the Empress' stroll, elegant texts were ready and
affixed.
If even she her parents comes to see, how filial piety supreme must
be!
When I behold her beauteous charms and talents supernatural, with awe
transfixed,
One word, to utter more how can I troth ever presume, when shame
overpowers me.
The distich by Lin Tai-yü on the tablet of "Spiritual stream outside the world," ran thus: