Opposite a Post-Station, The Boat Moonlight Beside a Monastery
My boat mirroring a clear, bright moon,
Deep in the night, I leave lanterns unlit:
A gold monastery beyond green maples,
A red post tower here beside white water,
Faint, drifting from a city, a crow's cry fades.
Full of wild grace, egrets sleep.
Hair, white, a guest of lakes and rivers,
I tie blinds open, and sit alone, sleepless.
-Tu Fu (712-770)
Translated by David Hinton in 'Mountain Home: the Wilderness poetry of Ancient China', 2014, pg 115
