Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HAVING CLIMBED TO THE TOPMOST PEAK OF THE INCENSE-BURNER MOUNTAIN, by PO CHU-YI



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HAVING CLIMBED TO THE TOPMOST PEAK OF THE INCENSE-BURNER MOUNTAIN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Up and up, the incense-burner peak!
Last Line: Then, with lowered head, came back to the ants' nest.
Alternate Author Name(s): Bai Juyi; Bo Juyi; Po Chu-i; Lo T'ien; Jyu-yi
Subject(s): China - Tang Dynasty (618-905); Mountain Climbing; Nature; Retirement


Up and up, the Incense-burner Peak!
In my heart is stored what my eyes and ears perceived.
All the year -- detained by official business;
To-day at last I got a chance to go.
Grasping the creepers, I clung to dangerous rocks;
My hands and feet -- weary with groping for hold.
There came with me three or four friends,
But two friends dared not go further.
At last we reached the topmost crest of the Peak;
My eyes were blinded, my soul rocked and reeled.
The chasm beneath me -- ten thousand feet;
The ground I stood on, only a foot wide.
If you have not exhausted the scope of seeing and hearing,
How can you realize the wideness of the world?
The waters of the River looked narrow as a ribbon,
P'en Castle smaller than a man's fist.
How it clings, the dust of the world's halter!
It chokes my limbs: I cannot shake it away.
Thinking of retirement, I heaved an envious sigh,
Then, with lowered head, came back to the Ants' Nest.





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