Farewell

--Yu Xuanji (b 843 - executed 863)

(trans. Peter Levitt & Rebecca Nie)

Flexible, without its own form,

        water settles into what holds it.

Clouds arise from no-mind,

        but they are willing to return.

Spring winds spread melancholy

        over the river as the sun descends—

separated from her companions,

        a wild duck flies alone.