A cold wind blows from the far sky. . .
What are you thinking of, old friend?
The wild geese never answer me.
Rivers and lakes are flooded with rain.
. . .A poet should beware of prosperity,
Yet demons can haunt a wanderer.
Ask an unhappy ghost, throw poems to him
Where he drowned himself in the Mi-lo River.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
I could never hope to emulate these superb old poets – except perhaps for the lack of prosperity bit…
They were a special breed. But how wonderful that we can still know them through their work.
Someone said once that good poets have to be hungry.
It depends, I think, on what they’re hungry for.
True 🙂
I’m glad we agree.