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Tu Fu - At an evening picnic, with young men and beauties on Chang-pa canal, it rained
Identifier
016755
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
At an evening picnic, with young men and beauties on Chang-pa canal, it rained
Translated by Arthur Cooper
Sunset's the time to take the boat out
When a light breeze raises slow ripples,
Bamboo hidden is the picnic place
And lotus fresh in the evening cool.
But while the young men are mixing iced drinks
And beauties snow a lotus salad,
A slip of cloud comes black overhead:
Before it rains my sonnet must end.
-
It has rained too, soaked those on the seats
As a squall rose to beat the boat side,
The girls of Yueh wear wet scarlet skirts
And those from Yen weep tears of eyeblack:
The painter peels its bough on the bank,
The curtains curl and flowers strew the foam;
All the way home there's a howling storm
And on the shore is Autumn in June!