282
exam conditions

so – you’re going to sit that damned exam
three days of stale lunches
don’t forget your chamber pot

ah but a martyr has no care for his body
soon it will be surplus

how long depressed
he waits on his chance
sword aged in the soil
will bury in him

the vulgar covet high position
truth interests the superior man

how can a fair ruler
lack faithful subjects?
something tells me it’s
happened before

no bright sun in the muddy water
nor will clouds reflect where rapids make foam

talented, gormless – each needs the other
there’s ying in the yang of the happiest home

283
words of parting in times of trouble

what can you play on a broken zither?
the ‘South Wind’ isn’t really a song

I dream a lot
I’m troubled with sickness

music is needed
without it these words
will never mend the country
or make it bright again

in the past we’ve met and parted often
but never so bitterly
as now, lacking song

all the strings are broken
so the hearts of the people

high officials say
let them whistle instead


284
dao ke dao fei chang dao

green mountains by the Yellow River
below us the road to Chang An

each footfall leads a thousand li on
best leave at home all thoughts of the end

285
a present of calligraphy

your true wild monk won’t fall for wine
well wrought characters do it for him

a wild ink brush finds its way through the sky
cloud makes fine parchment

here let me compose
black bolt of lighting flies from my hand

as water from a pure spring
the apt word flows

when I write see how dark the clouds gather
and washing the inkstone, a mountain in torrents

fresh green in the sun that follows
the ox and the village, track’s happy slant

then here comes this angry serpent – invective
and just as meaning, wild wind at our throats

I’d better put down my brush right now
before these big waves sink any more boats


286
bound for Hunan in the summer rains

rivers and lakes
are all connected

these two kinds of water
wash from the sky

bound south this one sail
chokes in the shallows

no wind in the weeds
we swelter becalmed

ah, when the snow sings
– will the unwashed hear?

let me rise like a crane
show the river its wings

287
for one returning to Henan

wind walks in the bends of the river
no mortal voice heard there

but the crane dances
mid dozens of strings

water chestnuts and vines
trap the boat

the sun shines high
in the mountains

the forest here
my un-tune-able zither

accompanies me
in singing these thanks

288
crossing the Gao Bridge in Suzhou
starting out for the south

here, take this pair of shoes
you’ll need them

the way south is long
the bridge far for a start

green the water
blue the breeze over

pick lotus flowers
early in autumn

clear alleys of light
where wavelets roll

morning’s tides
come in four doors

those girls of Wu
voices soft, sweet

boats lap on the water
where’s the one signed for ‘wine’?

that’s what I want to know
that’s where I’ll linger…ah

always some traces of footsteps remain
for instance all those you took as a child

memory’s like a star in the mist
you wake when the dream is vanishing

my heart burns to think of all this
what’s past is recalled, won’t return

see two middle aged men
at these first steps parting

the Gao Bridge winding away
I remember a tune strummed

fronting an old lonely house
how I was drunk with youth then

comrade, hold my hand
stay the dao just this while

in friendship
the way will not wither

289
sending a Daoist back to his mountain

which pine wishes its colour were autumn?
far less trees confess winter’s their soul

jade’s never going to be soft
it’s the same

you’re climbing the mountain from a straight road
you drink from a river the kinks are run from

for clothes I guess there’s a fine cut of cloud
with the help of the cranes you’ll get letters gone

don’t tell me the celestial village is far
I only wish I could go


290
sending an uncle off to Chu

adrift in waves
sea or sky

it’s the same
light sweat

fan of feathers
sail lightly tossed

shadows of leaves
on the shore

water lilies
sprayed by the breeze

boat anchored bobs
how endlessly

an uncle sings
a nephew worries


291
sending a courtier back to the army

an expert at riding, with bow

young men gather
to see the eagle’s
clear cold sky shot

to see the flag leading
away into clouds

snow’s so ancient there
it can’t melt

in vain blame the stream
that it halts in the mountains

recluse keep an eye out
for dragons, for men