A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems/Burial Songs

BURIAL SONGS

[1]

"The dew on the garlic-leaf," sung at the burial of kings and princes.

How swiftly it dries,
The dew on the garlic-leaf.
The dew that dries so fast
To-morrow will fall again.
But he whom we carry to the grave
Will never more return.

[2]

"The Graveyard," sung at the burial of common men.

What man's land is the graveyard?
It is the crowded home of ghosts, —
Wise and foolish shoulder to shoulder.
The King of the Dead claims them all;
Man's fate knows no tarrying.