Landmarks

Picking Vegetables from the Zhou dynasty Books of Songs 

Long ago, going out,
Willow strands swaying swaying;
Now I return, la,
Rain and snow, falling falling.

Editor's note: the original poem is quite long. I chose four lines from it. Possibly sung by men deployed to the country borders to defend their inland homelands. 


No. 8 Mammoth Hotsprings

Gold colored hot springs, light flashes eyes bright.
Mammoth huge wall, sparkling crystal light.
Layered steps, a hundred acres of yellow stones:
From this Yellowstone park got its name. 

A fatalist and a believer

A poem inscribed on a painting of a Chrysanthemum
by Song dynasty poet Zhen Sixiao

Flower blooms not among a hundred flower crowds.
Growing alone by the sparse fence, pleasures unending.
Would rather whither and die on the branch,
Than be blown off in the middle of a northern wind.*

Editor's note: every line is a comparison the poet is making to himself. Northern wind symbolizes the Mongolians.


Ten Poems on Yellowstone Park

No. 2 "Old Faithful"

Crystal water and sparkling mist spout unique shapes.
In between eruption and stillness, regular intervals.
From the beginning of time, like this, faithfully,
Revealing God's power, the hidden agent.