I visited the Temple of Clear Fountain on the Stream of Orchid which flows westward.
In the brook below the hill there drowns the orchid bud;
The sandy path between pine-trees shows not a trace of mud.
Shower by shower falls the rain while cuckoos sing.
Who,says an old man can't return once more unto his spring?
Before Clear Fountain's temple the water still flows west.
Why can't the cock still crow at dawn though with a snow-white crest?
游蕲水清泉寺。寺临兰溪，溪水西流。
山下兰芽短浸溪，松间沙路净无泥，萧萧暮雨子规啼。
谁道人生无再少？门前流水尚能西！休将白发唱黄鸡。
It was generally believed in China that a river would flow eastward to the sea as naturally as man should grow old.After his convalscence in 1082,the poet visited the west-flowing Stream of orchid and was confirmed in his conviction that an old man should be optimistic just as an old cock with a white crest should still crow at dawn.
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
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