Witter Bynner and Kiang Kung-hu, trans. Answering Vice-prefect Chang. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Answering Vice-prefect Chang

By Witter Bynner and Kiang Kung-hu, trans.


From “Poems by Wang Wei” From the Chinese AS the years go by, give me but peace,
Freedom from ten thousand matters.
I ask myself and always answer,
What can be better than coming home?
A wind from the pine-trees blows my sash,	5
And my lute is bright with the mountain-moon.
You ask me about good and evil?…
Hark, on the lake there’s a fisherman singing!