72. THE POET MOURNS HIS JAPANESE FRIEND
Alas, Chao of Nippon — you who left the Imperial City
To sail the waters where the fabled islands are!
Alas, the bright moon has sunk into the blue sea never- more to return,
And gray clouds of sorrow fill the far skies of the south.
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�� ��Chao is the Chinese name adopted by a Japanese, Abe Nakamaro, who, on arriving from Japan, was so fas- cinated with the brilliant court and city of Chang-an, that he chose to remain in China all his life. Once he sailed for home, but his ship encountered a storm and was blown to the south coast of China. At the first re- port of the mishap his friends at Chang-an believed that he was dead, and threnodies were composed, of which this poem by Li Po was one, [107]
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