water dragon leapyear

The old man from Shao-ling,

weeping inwardly,

Slips out by stealth in Spring

and walks by Serpentine,

 

And on its riverside

sees the locked Palaces,

Young willows and new reeds

all green for nobody;

 

Where Rainbow Banners once

went through South Gardens,

Gardens and all therein

with merry faces:

 

Where limpid River Wei's

waters flow Eastward,

One goes, the other stays

 and has no tidings:

 

Though Pity, all our hours,

weeping remembers,

These waters and these flowers

remain as ever;

[selected verses from "Lament by the Riverside" by Tu Fu (A.D. 712-770) Translated by Arthur Cooper, 1973]