Gathering Firewood
Gathering firewood, I enter mountain depths
mountain depths rising creek beyond creek,
Choked with the timbers of bridges in ruins.
Vines tumble low, tangled over cragged paths
And at dusk, scarce people grow scarcer still.
Mountain winds sweeping through simple robes,
My chant steady, I shoulder a light bundle.
Watch smoke drift across open country home.
Meng Hao-Jan (689-7400
Translated by David Hinton - in 'Mountain Home: The Wilderness Poetry of Ancient China', 2014, pg 42
