Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ALARM AT FIRST ENTERING THE YANG-TZE GORGES, by PO CHU-YI Poet's Biography First Line: Above, a mountain ten thousand feet high Last Line: Will be laid at last in an un-named grave! Alternate Author Name(s): Bai Juyi; Bo Juyi; Po Chu-i; Lo T'ien; Jyu-yi Subject(s): China - Tang Dynasty (618-905); Fear; Yangzi River, China | ||||||||
ABOVE, a mountain ten thousand feet high: Below, a river a thousand fathoms deep. A strip of green, walled by cliffs of stone: Wide enough for the passage of a single reed. At Chu-t'ang a straight cleft yawns: At Yen-yu islands block the stream. Long before night the walls are black with dusk; Without wind white waves rise. The big rocks are like a flat sword: The little rocks resemble ivory tusks. We are stuck fast and cannot move a step. How much the less, three hundred miles? Frail and slender, the twisted-bamboo rope: Weak, the dangerous hold of the towers' feet. A single slip -- the whole convoy lost: And my life hangs on this thread! I have heard a saying "He that has an upright heart Shall walk scathless through the lands of Man and Mo." How can I believe that since the world began In every shipwreck none have drowned but rogues? And how can I, born in evil days And fresh from failure, ask a kindness of Fate? Often I fear that these un-talented limbs Will be laid at last in an un-named grave! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AT THE YANGZI AND HAN by DU MU TRAVELING ON THE YANGZI: 1 by YU XUANJI TRAVELING ON THE YANGZI: 2 by YU XUANJI MADLY SINGING IN THE MOUNTAINS by PO CHU-YI A DREAM OF MOUNTAINEERING by PO CHU-YI AFTER GETTING DRUNK, BECOMING SOBER IN THE NIGHT by PO CHU-YI AN EARLY LEVEE ADDRESSED TO CH'EN, THE HERMIT by PO CHU-YI ARRIVING AT HSUN-YANG: 1 by PO CHU-YI |
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