EARLY AUTUMN:   AT THE POOL OF SPRINKLING WATER

 

 

 

 

BY CHAO TI OF HAN, THE "BRIGHT EMPEROR"

 

 

 

 

 

IN Autumn, when the landscape is clear,

       to float over the wide, water ripples,
To pick the water-chestnut and the lotus-flower 

            with a quick, light hand!
The fresh wind is cool, 

          we start singing to the movement of the oars.
The clouds are bright; they part before the light of dawn;

      the moon has sunk below the Silver River.
Enjoying such pleasure for ten thousand years –
Could one consider it too much?

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