The Jade Mountain/Taking Leave of Friends on My Way to Hua-chou
TAKING LEAVE OF FRIENDS
ON MY WAY TO HUA-CHOU
ON MY WAY TO HUA-CHOU
(In the second year of Chih-tê, I escaped from the capital through the Gate of Golden Light and went to Fêng-hsiang. In the first year of Ch'ien-yuan, I was appointed as official to Hua-chou from my former post of Censor. Friends and relatives gathered and saw me leave by the same gate. And I wrote this poem.)
This is the road by which I fled, .
When the rebels had reached the west end of the city;
And terror, ever since, has clutched at my vitals .
Lest some of my soul should never return.
. . . The court has come back now, filling the capital;
But the Emperor sends me away again.
Useless and old, I rein in my horse
For one last look at the thousand gates.
When the rebels had reached the west end of the city;
And terror, ever since, has clutched at my vitals .
Lest some of my soul should never return.
. . . The court has come back now, filling the capital;
But the Emperor sends me away again.
Useless and old, I rein in my horse
For one last look at the thousand gates.
(4d)