Short Poems

Spring breezes waft along the avenue
touching willow branches of bright gold.
Beside the road, a well-appointed horseman,
his knightly aura rivaling the spring!
Amidst bamboo, a delicate flower, a peach,
as ravishing as Lovely Lady Tung!
The knight dismounts, and whispers through the leaves,
suspecting she's a flower-spirit there.

Scallion stands, gruel shops—half are run by ex-scholars!
Here on this thoroughfare, selling rice cakes,
is another Philosopher in Hiding!
Tell me—in the cold, flickering light of the oil lamp,
have you managed to finish one chapter
of the Kung-yang Commentary?

True feelings come from my innermost heart,
when—suddenly—face to face with the Master!
It's not that I set out to follow Ni Tsan,
but my painting has Ni Tsan's spirit!

High up, there in mid-sky—
the moon on an autumn night.

Nobody visits
and I go to see no one—
night growing long.

Perfume I send fresh perfume to derive,
For you to perfume sweeter perfume give.

“I've lost a day,” old Tibby said,
Then sighed and groaned, and went to bed,
This monarch, as they said of old,
Knew time was worth much more than gold.
I'm of this sage opinion too,
And think this man judged pretty true.
—But now, my friends, I'll bid good bye,
For you are tired—and so am I.

Is it because my mind
keeps dwelling
on every worldly thing
that the world seems
more hateful to me than ever?

'Tis sunrise over Watson,
Where I sailed out to sea,
On that wild run to London
That wrecked and ruined me.
The beauty of the morning
On bluff and point and bay,
But the Lily of St Leonards
Was fairer than the day.

( Fall of Karna ) Karna was chosen as the leader of the Kuru forces after the death of Drona, and held his own for two days. The great contest between Karna and Arjun, long expected and long deferred, came on at last. It is the crowning incident of the Indian Epic, as the contest between Hector and Achilles is the crowning incident of the Iliad. With a truer artistic skill than that of Homer, the Indian poet represents Karna as equal to Arjun in strength and skill, and his defeat is only due to an accident.

( Fall of Drona ) On the fall of Bhishma the Brahman chief Drona, preceptor of the Kuru and Pandav princes, was appointed the leader of the Kuru forces. For five days Drona held his own against the Pandavs, and some of the incidents of these days, like the fall of Abhimanyu and the vengeance of Arjun, are among the most stirring passages in the Epic. The description of the different standards of the Pandav and the Kuru warriors is also interesting. At last Drona slew his ancient foe the king of the Panchalas, and was then slam by his son the prince of the Panchalas.