Page:The works of Li Po - Obata.djvu/196

 121. ON THE TUNG-TING LAKE-I

��J*- -^ Westward from Tung-ting the Chu River branches out,

<& /&)P While the lake fades into the cloudless sky of the south

jj^ The sun gone down, the autumn twilight steals afar f^| jQr over Chang-sha.

j^jX I wonder where sleep the lost queens of Hsiang of old.

-x.

These are two of the five poems Li Po composed at a boat party with Chia-chi and Li Hua while on his way to Yeh-lang. See the Introduction.

The Chu River. The Yangtze takes this name in this vicinity near the Tung-ting Lake, which comprises the ancient land of Chu.

The lost queens of Hsiang, i. e. O Huang and Hu Yin, the wives of Shun, who perisheed near the lake by the Hsiang River. See No. 92. [170]

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