Elegy

                  1

Father-in-law Tsi loved his youngest daughter best

I    a poor scholar   became his son

I coaxed her   when I had no money

she dressed me from her own straw case

                         of oddments & old clothes

a few sweet words

she even sold her beloved gold pin

so I could get drunk

Seeking wild vegetables for food

collecting fallen twigs for fuel

she used to look up at the old trees

wishing their leaves would fall

Now I have high office

I cannot share my fortune

now I could repay her

I can only commemorate her

                  2

We used to joke

about what happened after death

now my eyes mirror

the long   long sorrow I've seen

Of the clothes she left

I kept only a few

her sewing box unopened

it would tread on my heart

I remember her kindness

I'm gentle with her maids

tell of our poverty   burn money

so she will not suffer in the other world

All those who have lost love

understand my sorrow

only those who were once so poor

know how sad I am

                  3

I sit alone

mourning my lost love

knowing I'm near

to my own death

One man loses a son

he accounts for it as Fate

another writes three poems

in remembrance of his wife

We cannot change the past

I just hope to lie beside her in our tomb

but I fear she may not be there

I won't even meet her

in the next life

I stay awake at night

never closing my eyes

wanting to reach out to her

to caress away her frown

the worry soaked into her face

Yuan Chen

T'ang Dynasty

Translated by David Sen, Dick Russell

© Dick Russell, 2013