Chinese mythology, folktales, and literature
•
— Li Shangyin No cicadas trill when I first hear wild geese cry; The high tower overlooks water blending with the sky. The Moon Goddess and her Maid of Frost are cold-proof; They vie in beauty in moonlight over frosty roof.
•
— Li Shangyin High, you can’t eat your fill; In vain you wail and trill. At dawn you hush your song; The tree is green for long. I drift as water flows; And waste my garden grows. Thank you for warning due, I am as poor as you.
•
— Li Shangyin The guest has left my tower high, My garden flowers pell-mell fly. Here and there over the winding way They say goodbye to parting day. I won’t sweep them with broken heart, But wish they would not fall apart. Their love with spring won’t disappear, Each dewdrop turns into a tear.
•
— Li Shangyin Having caressed the dancers in the vernal breeze, You’re ravished amid the merry-making trees. How can you wail until clear autumn days are done To shrill like poor cicadas in the setting sun?
•
— Li Shangyin Spring is far, far away Where the sun slants its ray. If orioles have tear, Wet highest flowers here!
•
— Li Shangyin In the bamboo grove by the clean poolside I stay; Separated from you by towns, I miss you far away. The autumn gloom undispersed and late frost remain; Only the withered lotus listen to the rain.