Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/187

 How on the seventh day of the seventh moon %

in the Hall of 'Immortality ', At midnight, when none -were near,

he had whispered in her ear % u I swear that we will ever fly

like the one-winged birds f Or grow united like the tree

with branches which twine together" * Heaven and Earth, long-lasting as they are,

will some day pass away; But this great wrong shall stretch out for ever t

endless, for ever and ay.

A precocious and short-lived poet was Li Ho, of the ninth century. He began to write verses at the age of seven. Twenty years later he met a strange man riding on a hornless dragon, who said to him, " God Almighty has finished his Jade Pavilion, and has sent for you to be his secretary." Shortly after this he died. The following is a specimen of his poetry :

" With flowers on the ground like embroidery spread, At twenty, the soft glow of wine in my head, My white courser's bit-tassels motionless gleam While the gold-threaded willow scent sweeps der the stream. Yet until she has smiled, all these flowers yield no ray ; When her tresses fall down the whole landscape is gay ; My hand on her sleeve as I gaze in her eyes, A kingfisher hairpin will soon be my prize"

CHANG CHI, who also flourished in the ninth century, was eighty years old when he died. He was on terms of close friendship with Han Yii, and like him, too, a vigorous opponent of both Buddhism and Taoism. The following is his most famous poem, the beauty of which, says a commentator, lies beyond the words :

1 Each bird having only one wing, must always fly with a mate. 1 Such a tree was believed to exist, and has often been figured by the Chinese.

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