My Reflection by Night
by: Du Fu (712-770)
translated by W. J. B. Fletcher
Some scattered grass. A shore breeze blowing light.
A giddy mast. A lonely boat at night.
The wide-flung stars o'erhang all vasty space.
The moonbeams with the Yangtze's current race.
How by my pen can I to fame attain?
Worn out, from office better to refrain.
Drifting o'er life--and what in sooth am I?
A sea-gull floating twixt the Earth and Sky.
