from Sailing At Night: A Song Sequence: I by Ma Chih-yüan

A hundred years are but a butterfly’s dream.
Looking back, I sigh for things past.
Spring comes today;
Tomorrow flowers will fade.
So make haste with the penal cup–
The night is dying, the lamp burning out.

translated by Sherwin S. S. Fu

3 thoughts on “from Sailing At Night: A Song Sequence: I by Ma Chih-yüan

  1. Thank you for sharing. I am always drawn to work that centers on time. Then again, I guess, in the end, everything comes down to how we deal with time and cope with its passage,at least all matters pertaining to this life.

    • True enough. But as we age, we view time differently than when we were younger, though it seems to me we are generally working against it. There is never enough time for what we value doing and too much for those things we would rather be free from.

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