RELATED TOPIC:
TANG POETRY

RELATED TOPIC:
LI BO (701-762)

RELATED TOPIC:
DU FU (721-770)

"Villa on Zhongnan Mountain," by Wang Wei

In my middle years I came to much love the Way
and late made my home by South Mountain's edge.

When the mood comes upon me, I go off alone,
and have glorious moments all to myself.

I walk to the point where a stream ends,
and sitting, watch when the clouds rise.

By chance I meet old men in the woods;
we laugh and chat, no fixed time to turn home.

Wang Wei's "Villa on Zhongnan Mountain" from An Anthology of Chinese Literature, Stephen Owen, ed. and trans. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1996) p. 390.