Page:Frank Owen - The Scarlett Hill, 1941.djvu/240

RV 235 (LI PO) scraps of paper were hidden away and treasured by the tavern-keepers, to be brought out and mulled over whenever the need for beauty was upon them. They gazed in awe upon Li Po whom they called, "Seeker of the Scarlet Hill of Immortality."

Ming Huang considered that no feast was complete without at least one poet at the tables to compose poetry. What use was it to feed the body if the soul lingered hungry at the gates? Songs and dances, roast duck and pheasants, orioles crisp and brown, young suckling pig and the verses of Tu Fu. Lichees, cumquats, young bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, songs of Chang Yiieh, and almond cakes. Rice wine, grape wine and the booming verses of Li Po to cap the feast. Then more wine, more songs, the fragrance of flowers and Yang Kuei-fei. In her eyes, languorous submission.

One evening when the Emperor lingered with Yang Kuei-fei in the Orchid Pavilion in the Palace Gardens, when the air was heavy with spring and earth, and mei-flowers fell like perfumed snow, when the sun had flung a veneer of yellow-purple splendor across the sky, and the breeze from the North caressed the treetops, when all nature seemed to stand on tip-toe to behold the glory of approaching night, the Emperor sent for Li Po that he might immortalize this gorgeous hour.

Li Po came at once. He bowed to the Emperor, a trifle unsteadily, for he was inclined to be drunk.

"Please, your Majesty," he said, "I have been RV 235 (235)