Nature

On Waking from Sleep

by Liu Ch’ang c. AD 1150

Translated by L. Cranmer-Byng (1916) · From A Feast of Lanterns (1916)

Nature

At noon comes rest from the long routine;
I launch my boat on the lilied pond and float
Till I drift without will into sleep.
Green shadows lattice the waters green;
Courtyard and house the silence keep.

Then a bird breaks over the mountain-side
And falls and calls from the crimson coronals
Of the woods that awake to her cry.
My silken robes in the wind float wide.
O wings of delight, draw nigh! draw nigh!

MLA

Ch’ang, Liu. “On Waking from Sleep.” Translated by L. Cranmer-Byng. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/liu-chang/1/.

Chicago

Ch’ang, Liu. “On Waking from Sleep.” Translated by L. Cranmer-Byng. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/liu-chang/1/.

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