Autumn Evening Sitting Alone
Sitting alone in sadness
Both temples furrowed
In an empty room
Awaiting second watch
There’s rain in the mountains
Where the fruits have fallen
And beneath the lamplight
Crickets cry in the damp
grass
Hair grown white
From root to end
Is just as hard to transform
As the purest gold
Yearning for knowledge
To expunge age and illness
But who can attain the wisdom
Beyond birth and
death
* * * * *
Here's the original version.
秋夜独坐
独坐悲双鬓 空堂欲二更
雨中山果落 灯下草虫鸣
白发终难变 黄金不可成
欲知除老病 唯有学无生
* * * * *
And here is a portrait of the scholar Fu Sheng that is a copy of a painting originally credited to Wang Wei:
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