The silk spinner

P. Campbell

Up the river by the White King City,

The water swells and the wind is high.

It is May. Through the Chu-tang gorge

Who dares to sail down to me now —

Down to Ching-chow, where the barley is ripe

And the silk worms have made their cocoons —

Where I sit and spin, with my thoughts of you

Endless as the silken strands?

The cuckoo calls high up in the air. Ah, me!