AN EVENING MEETING

The night is the colour of Spring mists.The lamp-flower falls.And the flame bursts out brightly.In the midst of the disorder of the dressing-tableLies a black eye-stone.As she dances,A golden hairpin drops to the ground.She peeps over her fan,Arch, coquettish, welcoming his arrival.Then suddenly striking the strings of her table-lute,She sings—But what is the rain of Sorceress GorgeDoing by the shore of the Western Sea?

The night is the colour of Spring mists.The lamp-flower falls.And the flame bursts out brightly.In the midst of the disorder of the dressing-tableLies a black eye-stone.As she dances,A golden hairpin drops to the ground.She peeps over her fan,Arch, coquettish, welcoming his arrival.Then suddenly striking the strings of her table-lute,She sings—But what is the rain of Sorceress GorgeDoing by the shore of the Western Sea?

The night is the colour of Spring mists.The lamp-flower falls.And the flame bursts out brightly.In the midst of the disorder of the dressing-tableLies a black eye-stone.As she dances,A golden hairpin drops to the ground.She peeps over her fan,Arch, coquettish, welcoming his arrival.Then suddenly striking the strings of her table-lute,She sings—But what is the rain of Sorceress GorgeDoing by the shore of the Western Sea?

The night is the colour of Spring mists.

The lamp-flower falls.

And the flame bursts out brightly.

In the midst of the disorder of the dressing-table

Lies a black eye-stone.

As she dances,

A golden hairpin drops to the ground.

She peeps over her fan,

Arch, coquettish, welcoming his arrival.

Then suddenly striking the strings of her table-lute,

She sings—

But what is the rain of Sorceress Gorge

Doing by the shore of the Western Sea?

Li Hai-ku, 19th Century


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