�77. HIS DREAM OF THE SKY-LAND: A FAREWELL POEM
The sea-farers tell of the Eastern Isle of Bliss, It is lost in a wilderness of misty sea waves.
But the Sky-land of the south, the Yueh-landers say, ^ May be seen through cracks of the glimmering cloud, jp^
This land of the sky stretches across the leagues of \^jf>
heaven ; J*y&
It rises above the Five Mountains and towers over the J
Scarlet Castle, VHf^
While, as if staggering before it, the Tien-tai Peak
Of forty-eight thousand feet leans toward the southeast. y>7] I flew across the Mirror Lake one night under the moon. Jh j
The moon in the lake followed my flight,
Followed me to the town of Yen-chi.
Here still stands the mansion of Prince Hsieh.
I saw the green waters curl and heard the monkeys'
shrill cries. I climbed, putting on the clogs of the prince, Skyward on a ladder of clouds, And half-way up from the sky-wall I saw the morning
sun, And heard the heaven's cock crowing in the mid-air. [115]
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