Lawrence Hall, HSG
Meditation and Merriment in Early Autumn
We cannot stay
young and strong for long -
Both of us have
grey hair at the temples
-Du Fu, “To the Recluse Wei the
Eighth”
After summer rains the earth
is still green
In the cooling breeze oak
leaves dance happily
Old lawn chairs are the humble
chairs of poets
Old lawn chairs are the
glorious thrones of kings
The seasons remind us of our
mortality
We sit and ponder the
mysteries of change
We will die, to be replaced
by other poets
Who will sit and ponder the
mysteries of change
And still, whatever these deep
thoughts betoken -
I need to mow, but the lawn
mower is broken
Three Hundred
Tang Poems
Translated
by Peter Harris
London:
Everyman’s Library Pocket Poets, 2009
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