Looking South to the River (II)

Outside the curtains: Sa Sa, the sound

of rain. Spring is almost over. These silk blankets

are too thin, the fifth watch too cold

and in my dream, I had forgotten

about all of this—my self, this exile.

         Again in pleasure.

I am starting to think—that when the sun

is setting and you are resting alone, it’s better not

to look south to those streams and hills. Leaving

them was easy—but going back last night

was hard. The waters flowing away. The flowers

breaking to the ground. Spring has also left.

         That heaven, this earth.

—Li Hou Zhu
(translated from the Chinese by Ken Chen and Donna Chen Snow)

Li Hou Zhu (937-978?), also known as Li Yü, was the last emperor of the Southern Tang Dynasty. In 975 his kingdom was annexed by the Song dynasty, and Li spent the rest of his life under house arrest. He died in 978, poisoned by the second Song Emperor, who thought one of Li's poems too revolutionary.

Ken Chen and his mother, Donna Chen Snow, are currently translating the work of Li Hou Zhu. Ken is a law student at Yale University, and Donna is an engineer at Hewlett-Packard.

Originally published in the April/May 2004 issue of Boston Review.