Page:The works of Li Po - Obata.djvu/123

 63. TO HIS TWO CHILDREN

��In the land of Wu the mulberry leaves are green,

And thrice the silkworms have gone to sleep.

In East Luh where my family stay,

I wonder who is sowing those fields of ours.

I cannot be back in time for the spring doings,

Yet I can help nothing, traveling on the river.

The south wind blowing wafts my homesick spirit

And carries it up to the front of our familiar tavern.

There I see a peach tree on the east side of the house

With thick leaves and branches waving in the blue

It is the tree I planted before my parting three years -"T[

ago. The peach tree has grown now as tall as the tavern

roof, While I have wandered about without returning. Ping-yang, my pretty daughter, I see you stand By the peach tree and pluck a flowering branch. You pluck the flowers, but I am not there — How your tears flow like a stream of water! My little son, Po-chin, grown up to your sister's

shoulders, You come out with her under the peach tree, But who is there to pat you on the back? When I think of these things, my senses fail, And a sharp pain cuts my heart every day.

[97]

�� �