are still weak,
    Do not say that their shade is still small;
    Already I feel that both in garden and house
    Day by day a fresher air moves. 
    But most I love, lying near the window-side,
    To hear in their branches the sound of the autumn-wind.

[18] TO LI CHIEN

[Part of a Poem]

[A.D. 807]

    Worldly matters again draw my steps;
    Worldly things again seduce my heart. 
    Whenever for long I part from Li Chien
    Gradually my thoughts grow narrow and covetous. 
    I remember how once I used to visit you;
    I stopped my horse and tapped at the garden-gate. 
    Often when I came you were still lying in bed;
    Your little children were sent to let me in. 
    And you, laughing, ran to the front-door
    With coat-tails flying and cap all awry. 
    On the swept terrace, green patterns of moss;
    On the dusted bench, clean shadows of leaves. 
    To gaze at the hills we sat in the eastern lodge;
    To wait for the moon we walked to the southern moor. 
    At your quiet gate only birds spoke;
    In your distant street few drums were heard. 
    Opposite each other all day we talked,
    And never once spoke of profit or fame. 
    Since we parted hands, how long has passed? 
    Thrice and again the full moon has shone. 
    For when we parted the last flowers were falling,
    And to-day I hear new cicadas sing. 
    The scented year suddenly draws to its close,
    Yet the sorrow of parting is still unsubdued.

[19] AT THE END OF SPRING

To Yuuan Chen1.[1] [A.D. 810]

    The flower of the pear-tree gathers and turns to fruit;
    The swallows’ eggs have hatched into young birds. 
    When the Seasons’ changes thus confront the mind
    What comfort can the Doctrine of Tao give? 
    It will teach me to watch the days and months fly
    Without grieving that Youth slips away;
    If the Fleeting World is but a long dream,
    It does not matter whether one is young or old. 
    But ever since the day that my friend left my side
    And has lived an exile in the City of Chiang-ling,
    There is one wish I cannot quite destroy: 
    That from time to time we may chance to meet again.

[1] Po Chuu-i’s great friend.  See Nos. 63 and 64.

[20] THE POEM ON THE WALL

[A.D. 810]

[Yuuan Chen1 wrote that on his way to exile he had discovered a poem inscribed by Po Chuu-i, on the wall of the Lo-k`ou Inn.]

    My clumsy poem on the inn-wall none cared to see. 
    With bird-droppings and moss’s growth the letters were blotched away. 
    There came a guest with heart so full, that though a page to the
        Throne,
    He did not grudge with his broidered coat to wipe off the dust, and
        read.