The Yuan Chen Variations

[The Yüan Chên Variations are published in the United States by Sheep Meadow Press, New York. Notes are printed at the end of the poem.]

I

[1]

Eight times the autumn weather
has drenched with rain
those grasses that wave
green on your grave.
What friends remain
have grown old together

Three times my own old hones
have passed through illness.
My hair is white.
You, shut from light,
lie in a stillness
made of clay and stones

Do you know or not know
if one can return
to the world of men?
Did you know when
Han-lang came in turn
to the springs below?
...