Page:The works of Li Po - Obata.djvu/177

 �105. TWO LETTERS FROM CHANG-KAN— I

(A river-merchant's wife writes)

I would play, plucking flowers by the gate;

My hair scarcely covered my forehead, then.

You would come, riding on your bamboo horse, >^»

So we both dwelt in Chang-kan town, ^

We were two children, suspecting nothing. **^"

At fourteen I became your wife,

And so bashful that I could never bare my face,

But hung my head, and turned to the dark wall;

You would call me a thousand times,-

But I could not look back even once.

At fifteen I was abl'e to compose my eyebrows,

And beg you to love me till we were dust and ashes.

You always kept the faith of Wei-sheng,

Who waited under the bridge, unafraid of death,

I never knew I was to climb the Hill of Wang-fu

And watch for you these many days.

I was sixteen when you went on a long journey, Traveling beyond the Keu-Tang Gorge, Where the giant rocks heap up the swift river, And the rapids are not passable in May. Did you hear the monkeys wailing Up on the skyey height of the crags? [151]

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