Li Po the Chinese Poet
��Held his armies in the stronghold of Chu;
But there was no discipline of Huan and Wen.
His generals herded bears and tigers in the ranks-,
And men wavered in doubts and fears
While the rebellion raged like tempest.
You were defending Fang-ling, I remember,
With loyalty unsurpassed in all ages.
��ystal
��I lived then in the mountain of Incense Burner,
Eating the mist and washing my mouth in the crysta
fountain. The house door opened on the winding Nine Rivers, And beneath my pillow lay the five lakes, one linked to
another. When the fleet came upstream in the midnight And filled the city of Hsin-yang with flags and banners, I, betrayed by my own empty name, Was carried by force aboard the war-boat. They gave me five hundred pieces of gold, I brushed it away like a rack, and heeded not; Spurned the gift and the proffered title — For all that I was banished to the land of Yeh-lang.
Oh, the long road of a thousand miles to Yeh-lang! The westward journey made me old. Though the world was being put to order, I was ignored like a stalk of frost-bitten grass. The sun and the moon shine alike on all — How could I complain of injustice to heaven? You, good governor, adored like a god, Took compassion on your old friend. You invited me to be your guest of honor, And we ascended three times the tower house of Yellow Crane.
[176]
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