Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/249

 Then "when she stops and out she springs

to stand with downcast eyes, You think she is some angel

just now banished from the sh'es."

Better known as a statesman than as a poet is YEH SHIH (1150-1223). The following "stop-short," how- ever, referring to the entrance-gate to a beautiful park, is ranked among the best of its kind :

"'Tis closed! lest trampling footsteps mar

the glory of the green. Time after time we knock and knock;

no janitor is seen. Yet bolts and bars can't quite shut in

the spring- time* s beauteous pall : A fink-flowered almond-spray peeps out

athwart the envious wall! "

Of KAO CHU-NIEN nothing seems to be known. His poem on the annual spring worship at the tombs of ancestors is to be found in all collections :

" The northern and the southern hills

are one large burying-ground, And all is life and bustle there

when the sacred day comes round. Burnt paper cash, like butterflies,

fly fluttering far and wide, While mourners 1 robes with tears of blood

a crimson hue are dyed. The sun sets, and the red fox crouches

down beside the tomb; Night comes, and youths and maidens laugh

where lamps light up the gloom. Let him whose fortune brings him wine,

get tipsy while he may, For no man, when the long night coma %

can take one drop away I"

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