Ink on paperexpand_more
Gift of the Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture; formerly given to the Center by Dr and Mrs Peter F. Druckerexpand_more 2013.29.617
This text recites the two poems by the Chinese Tang Dynasty poet Yan Xiufu 嚴休復 (died 835/840) that are notated in Complete Tang Poems (Quan Tangshi), commissioned by Emperor Kangxi in 1705, and the largest compilation of poetry from that period.
終日齋心禱玉宸 魂消目斷未 / 逢真 不如一樹瓊瑤蕊 笑對藏 / 花洞裏人 香車潛下玉龜山 塵 / 世何由覩蕣顏 惟有多情枝 / 上雪 好風吹綴綠雲鬟
My heart, after day-long fasts, has prayed to the Jade Palace, / Yet soul has melted, eyesight failed without Encountering the True! / Much better is this entire tree of jade and jasper stamens, / Smiling as they face this visitor to the Cave of Hidden Flowers!
The winged chariot once descended to the Mount of the Jade Tortoise: / In this dusty world, whenever again will we view the visage of Shun' / There are only these snowflakes, full of feeling on the branch, / Blown here by a lovely breeze to ornament green-cloud chignons!
(Trans. Stephen Addiss)
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