Heat and cold, dusk and dawn have crowded one upon the other;
Suddenly I find it is two years since I came to Chung-chou. Through my closed doors I hear nothing but the morning and evening drum;
From my upper windows all I see is the ships that come and go 1
In vain the orioles tempt me with their song to stray beneath the flowering trees;
In vain the grasses lure me by their colour to sit beside the pond. There is one thing and one alone I never tire of watching—
The spring river as it…