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The Songs 93 If it is genuine, well and good. And I would willingly be forever a flower planted in the moon. Song 22 Regrets of Spring Spring indeed has its regrets. Does not the willow know this? o willow tree! Every day you are the object of passion. Will there ever be an end to it? When spring comes, it brings the memory of those who have left us. Would that the spring-wind, sharp as it is, could sever the bonds of passion! The cutting spring-wind can slow down the jaded horse at the road stage, so that even the whip will not make it budge;?1 It can so upset the young maiden sitting in her embroidered boudoir that she is loathe to paint her eyebrows. Truly, I have handed over my spring dreams to you; But you waste your time being over-anxious about others. I fear that as the years go by you will never get accustomed to the autumn wind. Your face will be pale and wan. Your thin limbs will scarcely support you. Then you will call on spring [i.e. to return], but spring will not heed you. Feelings are thinner than paper.72 Yearning between lovers is the seed of sorrow. o willow! Although you have been born and bred in the world of men, never become attached to one who will leave you. 71 Ten Ii (l-R ) make a 'long stage'; five Ii make a 'short stage'. The Chinese-English Dictionary (compiled by the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute. 1979) gives 1 Ii = 500 m or 0.3107 miles. Later on in these songs '10000 Ii' is used to indicate a very great distance. The poet Wong Bo (3:1& ) has a line which runs: From the river bridge we watch the travellers; At the long-stage we speed our departing friend. iPJmmf'TnK *'r~6!x:A (See also Song 51.) 72 Cf. Song 92, lines 3 and 4. The Songs 93 If it is genuine, well and good. And I would willingly be forever a flower planted in the moon. Song 22 Regrets of Spring Spring indeed has its regrets. Does not the willow know this? o willow tree! Every day you are the object of passion. Will there ever be an end to it? When spring comes, it brings the memory of those who have left us. Would that the spring-wind, sharp as it is, could sever the bonds of passion! The cutting spring-wind can slow down the jaded horse at the road stage, so that even the whip will not make it budge;?l It can so upset the young maiden sitting in her embroidered boudoir that she is loathe to paint her eyebrows. Truly, I have handed over my spring dreams to you; But you waste your time being over-anxious about others. I fear that as the years go by you will never get accustomed to the autumn wind. Your face will be pale and wan. Your thin limbs will scarcely support you. Then you will call on spring [i.e. to return], but spring will not heed you. Feelings are thinner than paper.72 Yearning between lovers is the seed of sorrow. o willow! Although you have been born and bred in the world of men, never become attached to one who will leave you. 71 Ten Ii (l-R ) make a 'long stage'; five Ii make a 'short stage'. The Chinese-English Dictionary (compiled by the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute. 1979) gives 1 Ii = 500 m or 0.3107 miles. Later on in these songs '10000 Ii' is used to indicate a very great distance. The poet Wong Bo (3:1& ) has a line which runs: From the river bridge we watch the travellers; At the long-stage we speed our departing friend. iPJmmf'TnK *'r~rJi!x:A (See also Song 51.) 72 Cf. Song 92, lines 3 and 4. ...

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