History & Politics
A Message to Commissioner Li at Tsu-chou
Translated by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu (1929) · From The Jade Mountain (1929)
From ten thousand valleys the trees touch heaven;
On a thousand peaks cuckoos are calling;
And, after a night of mountain rain,
From each summit come hundreds of silken cascades.
. . . If girls are asked in tribute the fibre they weave,
Or farmers quarrel over taro fields,
Preside as wisely as Wen-weng did. . . .
Is fame to be only for the ancients?
Cite this poem
MLA
Wei, Wang. “A Message to Commissioner Li at Tsu-chou.” Translated by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/wang-wei/22/.
Chicago
Wei, Wang. “A Message to Commissioner Li at Tsu-chou.” Translated by Witter Bynner and Kiang Kang-hu. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/wang-wei/22/.
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