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The Songs 133 Song 60 The Debt of Three Lives I ask you, 'Why were we born at the same time into this flowery [i.e. carnal, pleasure-loving] world, And since we have been born together in this place, why do we always mutually oppose one another?' Red powder [i.e. courtesans] and green garments152 [i.e. loving men] will certainly change, Therefore I do not wish to plant the root of passion in snow-hardened earth. How could I think that, like the lotus whose roots may snap but whose fibres remain joined153 [i.e. apparently severed, but still connected], I should be bound through three lives [i.e. the past, the present and the future] to my love-debts?154 Up till now I have been confined to the willow groves [i.e. the houses of entertainment] and flower streets [i.e. the houses of entertainment]), practising my seductive arts. Although you were like the wild crane and I was like the sea-gull, we were suitably matched. Ah! The mandarin drake and duck/55 the clouds and the water are always together. I had but an insipid relationship with you; passion cast into the ocean. How could I ever have thought that I would be prompted by a sudden upsurge of emotion. Tell me, how can I free myself of it? I simply cannot cut myself off from myoid and new love. Alas, there is no end to it all ... Enough! It were better that in the world to come you and I lived together in some far-off distant place. 152 See Song 12 (Part 4), line 3, note. 153 See Song 83, line 2. 154 See Songs 53, line 6; 9, line 5; 35 (Part 3), line 3; 35 (Part 4), lines 8-10; 66, lines 35 ; 72, line 6. 155 See Songs 3, line 13, note; 12 (Part 6), line 8. The Songs Song 60 The Debt of Three Lives 133 I ask you, 'Why were we born at the same time into this flowery [i.e. carnal, pleasure-loving] world, And since we have been born together in this place, why do we always mutually oppose one another?' Red powder [i.e. courtesans] and green garments152 [i.e. loving men] will certainly change, Therefore I do not wish to plant the root of passion in snow-hardened earth. How could I think that, like the lotus whose roots may snap but whose fibres remain joined153 [i.e. apparently severed, but still connected], I should be bound through three lives [i.e. the past, the present and the future] to my love-debts?154 Up till now I have been confined to the willow groves [i.e. the houses of entertainment] and flower streets [i.e. the houses of entertainment]), practising my seductive arts. Although you were like the wild crane and I was like the sea-gull, we were suitably matched. Ah! The mandarin drake and duck,155 the clouds and the water are always together. I had but an insipid relationship with you; passion cast into the ocean. How could I ever have thought that I would be prompted by a sudden upsurge of emotion. Tell me, how can I free myself of it? I simply cannot cut myself off from myoid and new love. Alas, there is no end to it all ... Enough! It were better that in the world to come you and I lived together in some far-off distant place. 152 See Song 12 (Part 4), line 3, note. 153 See Song 83, line 2. 154 See Songs 53, line 6; 9, line 5; 35 (Part 3), line 3; 35 (Part 4), lines 8-10; 66, lines 35 ; 72, line 6. 155 See Songs 3, line 13, note; 12 (Part 6), line 8. ...

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