Songs from the Chinese

Cliffs that rise a thousand feet
Without a break,
Lake that stretches a hundred miles
Without a wave,
[Sands that are white all through the year,
Without a stain,]1
Pine-tree woods, winter and summer
Ever-green,
Streams that for ever flow and flow
Without a pause,
Trees that for twenty thousand years
Your vows have kept,
You have suddenly healed the pain of a traveller's heart,
And moved his brush to write a new song.

Text Authorship:

• by Arthur Waley (1889 - 1969), "Sailing homeward", first published 1919

Based on:

• a text in Chinese (中文) by Chan Fang-Sheng (flourished 4th century) [text unavailable]
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¹ omitted by Gibbs.

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry