song of endless sorrow  

            synchronize with music attached

 http://seeingnorthlight.blogspot.com/2015/03/blog-post.html

Emperor Hsuan Tsung

had ruled 20 years

without finding that beauty he craved

and while he still sought her

concealed in her home

a young girl so beautiful

she could not be hidden or left unknown

was chosen for the Court

synchr____one flick of her eyebrow

one glimpse of her smile

six palaces stood empty

all beauty became nothing

for the Emperor saw her bathing one cold Spring Day

in hot Wah Ching pool

her skin shedding softness to the silken water

snow white

fragile

maids ran to help her in case she should fall

this first day the Emperor rejoiced in her

dark clouds her hair, fresh flowers her face

her crown moved sky as she swayed

through warm Spring nights that seemed so short

a mere flicker of darkness

before sunlight brightened their velvet bed

laughter and lovemaking

leaving no time for the problems of State

beside him she feasted

wine burnished her cheeks

in their chamber, shadows brimming, gold tones at dusk

she prepared for the night

3000 beauties dwelt in the Palace

only 1 had the King’s love

synchr____her relatives were honored

her homeland praised

everywhere parents treasured young girls

Li Palace rose up giving music to the breeze

soft songs slow dance

frozen tableaux in the air

his regal eyes would not gaze away from hers

till Yu Yang’s war drums finally arrived

cut short that lovely

Yee Tong tune

war dust and smoke

a long line of carriages

carried the Court away

fleeing southwest

the Emperor’s flag moving forward on the road

travelled less than one hundred miles

before his Army stopped him

demanded her life should atone for his deeds

his neglect of the State

And the Emperor was powerless

he could not prevent his Army from hanging her

horses watched her die

fade out___ear rings

bracelets

pins

all scattered on the ground

her golden sparrow hairpin glittered among them

but no-one would touch them

his arm to his eyes he heard her sobs stop

his arm fell limp, tears, blood, fell down

5 second pause____

yellow dust filled the sky

cold winds everywhere

those that went with him followed that hard road

that curves up Kan-Kock till beneath Au Mia peak

a remnant around him

his flag paused

gathered strength

clear rivers

green mountains

crisp air

all these could cure any grief

except for the Emperor’s

day and night he longed for her

and if moonlight touched him his heart shivered

and if nights were cloudy the sound of rain like bells

on his tent, cut him to pieces

5 second pause____

then order was restored

the Emperor travelled back

came to Horse Ridge

where his grief began

searched for her jade face buried underground

he could not see her

he waited    prayed

his ministers came close to him

their clothes drenched with tears

his horse pulled him home

the Palace unchanged

hibiscus still blossomed by the pool where she bathed

hibiscus like her face her brow like the willows

with images like these could he not cry

Spring came

flowers blossomed

peaches

                plums

                          blew open

autumn rain

leaves shriveled

fell

gardens unkempt

leaves lying in mounds

no-one would sweep them

clowns, jokers

their hair turning white

eunuchs, chambermaids

all grew old

at night only fireflies accompanied him

his oil-lamp burnt out

sleep would not follow

watch bells rang out

each night more endless

who was beside him in the cold grey morning?

when thick frost whitened the yin yang tiles?

for one year this feeling

numb   not dead

life absent   dreams empty

5 second pause

enter after music____

from Ling Chun a Taoist came to the Emperor

his sincerity allowed him to call on the dead

he could travel on clouds

run like lightning

had been to the sky’s end

the ends of the earth

he offered the Emperor his help

in Heaven in Hell he could not find her

till he overheard angels talking of a mountain

far over the sea

floating free in the air

in five colored clouds

wafted by the wind

between two veils

where dwelling in a city

of delicate houses

a lady Tai Ching

her face full of flowers

like snow her skin

was she not the loved one?

the lost Lady Yang?

brief pause____

the Taoist went there, went to the west-most house

knocked on a jade door

told the maids to announce

Hsuan Tsung’s messenger had come

as if still in her dreams

she rose from her bed

hurriedly smoothing the pillows

bead curtain swept back

silver screen falling

she came quickly from the bedroom

her hairpin tilted

her cap falling loose

just as it had when she danced to that lovely

Yee Tong tune

tears running down had riven her cheeks

like peach blossom stained by rain

she thanked his kindness eyes glowing with love

she hadn’t seen his smile

heard his voice in her dreams

each lonely night she recounted

as she looked down

mist and dust

obscured the Palace where her heart still dwelt

a gold box, a gold hairpin, she broke both in half

bade the messenger to say to her Lord

“his heart and hers like the halves of these tokens

would go on as true as sustaining as gold

till somewhere they would meet”

did the Emperor still remember the oath they had made

at midnight in Chumsong Palace on the 7^th day in July

synchr____“like birds joining wing

we will fly on forever

like entangled roots

we will live never part”

the sky has a height

the earth a limit

eternity will end

their sorrow 

flows

beyond

                        Po-Chu-Yi

                        music by Chris Horne

                        translated by David Sen & Dick Russell

                        Copyright © Horne, Sen & Russell 2015

First published in Chapman, Volume III, No 4,

Edinburgh, Scotland 1975

Editors: Walter Perrie, Joy Hendry, Robert R. Calder