Arrival of Spring (a song by Chang Shih)

Today -- as the Magnolia buds are beginning to unfurl on our front lawn -- I'm going all in on the arrival of spring with this translation of a poem by Chang Shih, which is part of the Poems of the Masters, the classic anthology of Tang and Song verse.

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The light comes back

A year has passed

Ice and frost now rare

Spring returns

For every man

Grass and trees

Well knowing

The thrust of life

Spreads everywhere

To all the senses showing

The East wind blows

On waters green

The ripples outward

Going