Four Poems Attributed to Tzu Yeh*

(Translated by Arthur Waley)

 

 

 

All night I could not sleep

Because of the moonlight on my bed.

I kept on hearing a voice calling:

Out of Nowhere, Nothing answered “yes.”

 

 

At the time when blossoms

Fall from the cherry-tree:

On a day when yellow birds

Hovered in the branches–

You said you must stop,

Because your horse was tired:

I said I must go,

Because my silkworms were hungry.

 

 

I will carry my coat and not put on my belt;

With unpainted eyebrows I will stand at the front window.

My tiresome petticoat keeps on flapping about;

If it opens a little, I shall blame the spring wind.

 

 

I heard my love was going to Yang-chou

And went with him as far as Ch’u-shan.

For a moment when you held me fast in your outstretched arms

I thought the river stood still and did not flow.

 

 

*A Chinese poetess living in the 4th century A.D.