Paying Homage to Bai Juyi’s Tomb by Ma Yongbo

 

 

The path to you is rugged and long,

not easy, with few visitors along.

By your nature, you should dwell on flat ground,

yet lofty you stand, grave as

the Prince’s teacher profound.

I say I quite like your verse, but you’re mute—

Truth be told, its worth matters not to my route.

Using your excellence to mock modern ineptitude

hardly fits your principle of simplicity,

let’s meet as equals, then, and call each other brother.

Let me count the pines growing on your tomb—

one, two, three, four—their silent bloom.

Your loneliness and mine share no common tune;

whether your struggles and my writing woes

rest on the same ground, only time knows.

Only stone and stream still intertwine,

like lovers in a fading lens,

spinning into a landscape of make-believe scenes.