Ch‘ang-Ch‘ien: The Tomb of Chao-Chün

Death would have ravished her some hapless day Even among the palaces of Han, But she was never born to taste The bitterness of fate so far away— This pearl of beauty for whose sake did haste The camels' golden-gleaming caravan. To-day but dust and bones remain Of her whose ransom threaded the cold steppes in vain. Night fell on chariots to the frontier ranged, But horses champed, for none were fain to part. Each cursed the lying hand, the traitor's heart. The moon surprised us scattered round the tomb, And all our tears were changed To little piteous lights that ringed the gloom.