In April
the air thick
with the smoky fragrance
of wet blossoms
my friend and I exchange goodbyes
at Yellow Crane Tower
as he departs
downriver
east to Yang-chou.
His lone sail
fades from sight
until a shadowy flicker
it sinks into the sky’s
limitless blue.
Then I see only
the great Yangtze
pouring
through Heaven’s gates.
–Translated by Stanton Hager,
in Huangshan Poems from the T’ang Dynasty