following my ancient custom, I send you these three couplets:
I remember how once I wrote you a letter sitting in the Palace at night,
At the back of the Hall of Golden Bells, when dawn was coming in the sky.
This night I fold your letter—in what place?
Sitting in a cottage on Lu Shan, by the light of a late lamp.
The caged bird and fettered ape are neither of them dead yet;
In the world of men face to face will they ever meet again?
O Wei-chih, Wei-chih! This night, this heart—do you know them or not? Lo-t'ien bows his head.
