Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/167

 (2.) " Homeward at dusk the clanging rookery

wings its eager flight; Then, chattering on the branches, all

are pairing for the night. Plying her busy loom, a high-born

dame is sitting near, And through the silken -window-screen

their voices strike her ear. She stops, and thinks of the absent spouse

she may never see again; And late in the lonely hours of night

her tears flow down like rain."

(3.) " What is life after all but a dream ?

A nd why should such pother be made t Better far to be tipsy, I deem,

And doze all day long in the shade.

11 When I wake and look out on the lawn, I hear midst the flowers a bird sing; I ask, ' Is it evening or dawn ? '

The mango-bird whistles, ' ' Tis spring.'

" Overpowered with the beautiful sight,

A notherfull goblet I pour, And would sing till the moon rises bright* But soon Pm as drunk as bffore"

(4.) " You ask what my soul does away in the sky, 1 inwardly smile but I cannot reply ; Like the peach-blossoms carried away by the strean*, I soar to a world of which you cannot dream. "

One more extract may be given, chiefly to exhibit what is held by the Chinese to be of the very essence of real poetry, suggestion. A poet should not dot his is. The Chinese reader likes to do that for himself, each according to his own fancy. Hence such a poem as the following, often quoted as a model in its own particular line :

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