A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/Cock-Crow Song

COCK-CROW SONG

Anon. [first century B. C.]

In the eastern quarter dawn breaks, the stars flicker pale.
The morning cock at Ju-nan mounts the wall and crows.
The songs are over, the clock^[1] run down, but still the feast is set.
The moon grows dim and the stars are few; morning has come to the world.
At a thousand gates and ten thousand doors the fish-shaped keys turn;
Round the Palace and up by the Castle, the crows and magpies are flying.

 

1. A water-clock.