These mountains emerald clouds at the far end of distance.
In tonight’s clarity, one sound: a whisper of white snow.

I’m sending thoughts of you a thousand miles of moonlight:
scraps of light along canyon streams, haze of steady rain.

translated by David Hinton

By heaven above
I want us together, heart and mind, my love,
want it destiny on and on, without breach or fail.

Not till mountains have no peaks
and rivers run dry,
not till thunder fills winter days
and summer rains turn to snow,
not till all heaven and earth blur
together, my love, will I part from you.

translated by David Hinton

Love is a universal migraine,
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason.

Symptoms of true love
Are leanness, jealousy,
Laggard dawns;

Are omens and nightmares–
Listening for a knock,
Waiting for a sign:

For a touch of her fingers
In a darkened room,
For a searching look.

Take courage, lover!
Can you endure such grief
At any hand but hers?