The View from the North Tower

 Another Chinese recension.

 

 

         The View from the North Tower

                        After Li Po

The city lies below me there
Clear-cut in the early morning air:
Walls, gates, towers, bridges bow by bow
Spanning the rivers twain that flow
Quicksilverlike to their confluence where
The city lies;—

           Trees the autumn winds have stripped so bare,—
           Toilers that to their groves forth-fare,
           Of orange, shaddock, pomelo

           What I dream here, they know nor care,
           Nor how the ancient times declare
           Their presence,—what proud pageants glow,—
           Throned dragons—emperors long ago

           Dead, so the city says. I’ll swear
           The city lies. . . .

The Theosophical Path, October 1923