Ye Shao-weng translated from Mandarin to English by Rex Tan
Ye Shao-weng (1100-1150) was a Southern Song Dynasty poet from Zhejiang. An academician, he belonged to the Jianghu (Rivers and Lakes) School of poets, known for its unadorned style of poetry. He served in the imperial archives of the capital, Hangzhou.
BEFORE THE GARDEN’S GATE
My knocks go unanswered
Left to echo
As my clogs
Lacerate the moss covered floor
Yet I see
A spring untamed
As the red apricot
Branches out the garden’s hedge
Rex Tan is a journalist by trade and a poet at heart. As a Malaysian, he is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Malay, yet he calls none his first language.
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