TOUCHED BY COLD MOON LIGHT
I’m still reading these Chinese poems! This one is full of lovely sensual inner echoes, a wonderful poem about growing old. I love the childlike idea of paradise as an island of fairies! It is just so beautiful. Love Susie x
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So hard to see you, so hard to leave.
The east wind slackens, the flowers all wither,
A spring silkworm spits silk until it dies.
A candle weeps till it's a burnt nub.
In the morning mirror I worry my hair is whitening.
At night I chant poems, touched by cold moonlight.
I know that paradise, an island of fairies, is close.
Bluebird, please show me the way.
Li Shangyin (813-858)