Love

Fascination

by Ssŭ-k’ung T’u 837–908

Translated by L. Cranmer-Byng (1909) · From A Lute of Jade (1909)

Love

Fair is the pine grove and the mountain stream
That gathers to the valley far below,
The black-winged junks on the dim sea reach, adream,
The pale blue firmament o’er banks of snow.
And her, more fair, more supple smooth than jade,
Gleaming among the dark red woods I follow:
Now lingering, now as a bird afraid
Of pirate wings she seeks the haven hollow.
Vague, and beyond the daylight of recall,
Into the cloudland past my spirit flies,
As though before the gold of autumn’s fall,
Before the glow of the moon-flooded skies.

MLA

T’u, Ssŭ-k’ung. “Fascination.” Translated by L. Cranmer-Byng. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/ssu-kung-tu/3/.

Chicago

T’u, Ssŭ-k’ung. “Fascination.” Translated by L. Cranmer-Byng. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/ssu-kung-tu/3/.

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