A Feast of Lanterns: Liu Ch‘ang: On Waking From Sleep

At noon comes rest from the long routine;
I launch my boat on the lilied pond and float
Till I drift without will into sleep.
Green shadows lattice the waters green;
Courtyard and house the silence keep.

Then a bird breaks over the mountain-side
And falls and calls from the crimson coronals
Of the woods that awake to her cry.
My silken robes in the wind float wide.
O wings of delight, draw nigh! draw nigh!