Journey with a Damaged Heart

Hold back a sob or two

Learn to chant clearly

A bruised bone

A hidden injury

Plain and simple

Such is autumnal beauty

On the verge

Of the first frost

The leaves still

On the trees

Crying in the wind

And rain

In the lamplight

Blue and black

The flowers sleep

Daubed in ink

Falling it shimmers

So goes the moth’s dance

The old walls

Have given birth

To a new layer of dust

My soul has been bridled

Now that this dream

Is put into words

伤心行

李贺

咽咽学楚吟     病骨伤幽素

秋姿白发生     木叶啼风雨

灯青兰膏歇     落照飞蛾舞

古壁生凝尘     羁魂梦中语

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Li He writes with great clarity of feeling, while also managing to maintain considerable opacity of meaning.  This is an important variation on the Tang spirit, presenting us with a gift of poetry that is very much emotionally accessible and yet something of a mystery at the same time. Falling it shimmers/ So goes the moth's dance.  How beautiful and evocative a line is that!        
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