Page:A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems (1919).djvu/84

 SONG

On the Eastern Way at the city of Lo-yang At the edge of the road peach-trees and plum-trees grow; On the two sides,— flower matched by flower; Across the road,— leaf touching leaf.

A spring wind rises from the north-east; Flowers and leaves gently nod and sway. Up the road somebody's daughter comes Carrying a basket, to gather silkworms' food. With her slender hand she breaks a branch from the tree; The flowers fall, tossed and scattered in the wind.

"Lovely lady, I never did you harm; Why should you hate me and do me injury?"

"At high autumn in the eighth and ninth moons When the white dew changes to hoar-frost, At the year's end the wind would have lashed your boughs, [ 78 ]