{"collection":"cfu","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cfu/fol/fol19.htm","path":"cfu/fol/fol19.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cfu/fol/fol19.htm","text":"A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916]\nOnce more Heaven bids the plough-star drive\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0before the spring, and turn its handle to the east,\n Spring\u2014the blue harmonies of tumultuous waters!\n The fair fragrance of orchid sprays.\n Climb and look out and beyond. At once the eye\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0retains the whole immeasurable expanse of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the sea, and the slenderest film of the clouds.\n The soul streams out in ecstasy.\n Tears! my tears are falling.\n Of the gentle pure breeze I sing\u2014of the waves \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of Chang-lang are my songs\n Of lake Duntkhin are my dreams, and my sighs\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0for the river-lands of Oyas and Oyan.\n What a lightness of health is in my soul! One\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0with the spring-wafting of the wind, it soars\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0away and flies I know not where. Yes! it \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0soars, but whither I know not. And my \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0thoughts are boundless.\n I am whelmed in a dream of this fairest of seasons,\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0in a mood that dispels not.\n The whole plain heaves into bloom\u2014what flowers!\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0what sceneries!\n Ah! fragrance of sweet herbs, my love and grief \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0are for you.\n Sorrow, a sharp-edged knife, is sheathed in my \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0heart,\nFor these are the last of spring\u2014the ending of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0spring's last days.\n Sadness of heart takes hold of me, and no light\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0weariness.\nAway my thoughts! By the winding Khang, by\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the roaring rapids of Syan my plunging\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0hands are hidden with fairy flowers\u2014and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0still my thoughts have mastered me\u2026\nEach year this picture is the same. Spring comes\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u2014the flowers bloom. But lo, there is an\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0end of them\u2014and change comes over spring.\nSwiftly, swiftly the long river speeds away its\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0waters.\n I follow with my gaze the flowing waves and in\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0thought\n I pass with them to the east, to the very sea.\n Alas! \u2019tis even so with spring\u2014it stays not with\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0us once its time has come.\n Soon, too soon will Destiny send forth the breath\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of tottering age.\n Ah! that I cannot fling a long, long rope over the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0blue sky and bind with it the white orb of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0light as it rushes on to its setting!","title":"A Feast of Lanterns: Li Po: Spring Rhapsodies: I. Delight","type":"page"}