Buying fine jade in the springtime,
Enjoying rain song from within a cabin,
A taciturn scholar sits betwixt
Copses of tall, arching bamboo.
Sparse white clouds in a newly clear sky;
Swallows weave 'round trees in pursuit.
Light through leaf casts a green hue on all;
Sound of falling water, thin but near;
Flower petals fall without a sound.
But the man sits unyielding as a mum;
He writes what the scene dictates
To make a pithy book.
NOTE: The late Tang Dynasty poet, Sikong Tu (a.k.a. Ssŭ-k‘ung T‘u,) wrote an ars poetica entitled Twenty-Four Styles of Poetry. It presents twenty-four poems that are each in a different tone, reflecting varied concepts from Taoist philosophy and aesthetics. Above is a translation of the sixth of the twenty-four poems.

