ARRIVING AT HSÜN-YANG
[Two Poems]
[1]
A bend of the river brings into view two triumphal arches;
That is the gate in the western wall of the suburbs of Hsün-yang.
I have still to travel in my solitary boat three or four leagues —
By misty waters and rainy sands, while the yellow dusk thickens.
[2]
We are almost come to Hsün-yang: how my thoughts are stirred
As we pass to the south of Yü Liang's[1] tower and the east of P'ēn Port.
The forest trees are leafless and withered,— after the mountain rain;
The roofs of the houses are hidden low among the river mists.
The horses, fed on water grass, are too weak to carry their load;
The cottage walls of wattle and thatch let the wind blow on one's bed.
In the distance I see red-wheeled coaches driving from the town-gate;
They have taken the trouble, these civil people, to meet their new Prefect!
- ↑ Died A. D. 340. Giles, 2526.
