{"collection":"cfu","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/cfu/fol/fol26.htm","path":"cfu/fol/fol26.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/cfu/fol/fol26.htm","text":"A Feast of Lanterns, by L. Cranmer-Byng, [1916]\nTsen-tsan and his brother delighted to dream in\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0grand horizons,\n They drew me down to the water's edge, their\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0fellow wanderer.\n Veiled was the sky and sombre the land, and\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0sudden the change from daylight,\n The wind rose and the storm-waves seemed to be\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0rolling pale gems in the foam.\nOur boat shot forth from its moorings and rippled\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0into the movement,\n Great was the scene, inspiring to song, but the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0dominant note was fear.\nHow should I not be stirred with danger surging \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0around me?\n Treacherous wind and crested wave, is there no \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0escaping you?\nLo now the captain unfurls the silken sail to the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0breezes\n And the boatmen begin to rejoice as the last cloud\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0flags away.\n The wild-fowl rise with a roaring of wings, scared \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0by the chant of oarsmen;\n Lute and flute are astir; faint harmonies drip \n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from the sky.\nBright are the water-lily's leaves as though the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0rains had burnished them.\n The slack line slips through my hands that would\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0fathom the soundless lake.\n My gaze falls on the vast expanse of the limitless\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0void before me,\n Rearward menacing, dark, Chong-Nan towers out\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0of sight.\nSouthward the mountains brood above the restless\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0waters,\n Their grim reflections, trembling, sink in deeps of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0darkening blue.\n The sun sets, the boat glides by the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0cloud-pavilioned pagoda,\n And soon the moon is mirrored in the dun dusk of\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0the lake.\n\u2019Tis then the black dragon, breathing pearls, looms\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0out of the darkness.\n \u2019Tis then the river-god beats the drum, and the\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0shoaling monsters rise.\n The naiads leave their dim retreats, faintly their\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0revels find us,\n And the pale streamers of their quickened lutes\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0gleam for an instant far away.","title":"A Feast of Lanterns: Tu Fu: Sailing Across Lake Mei-Pei","type":"page"}