He shrugged his shoulders. "Tu Fu over-values my work. There is a bond of deep affection between us. To discover the qualities of a man you should consult his enemies as well as his friends. In my case, tavernkeepers as well. However, this blending of religions is a pretty thought to muse over. Why should it not be done? Sometimes in the peaceful solitude of mountains, I say, 'Certainly a profound religion is in the air, a feeling such as one might have who was able to walk about the roads of the sky, but I've never been able to discover the name of the religion responsible for this sublime feeling that life is good and all is well."
Night dropped over them. The sky was perfumed with stars. The breeze made way for a wind of aweinspiring cold.
At moonrise, Li Po said, "The moon is a mirror flying across the sky."
Ming Huang sighed, for the sky itself was a vast mirror in which, no matter in whatsoever direction he turned, he could behold the face of his beloved. Though separated by distance, she was still with him.
Early the next morning Wang Wei left the caravan and continued onward to Wang Chu'an in the mountains, the subject of his most celebrated painting and immortalized in his poems:
"The barren hills creep out above the green,
And autumn floods increase with gushing, still
Before my wicket on my staff I lean;
In evening's breeze I hear cicadas shrill.
