The Old Temple Among the Mountains
By Chang Wen-Chang
T’ang Dynasty (618-905 b.c.)
The temple courts with grasses rank abound,
And birds throng in the forest trees around;
But pilgrims few, though tablets still remain,
Come to the shrine while revolutions reign.
The mice climb through the curtains—full of holes,
And thick dust overspreads the broidered stoles;
The temple pool in gloomy blackness lies
To which the sleeping dragon37 sometimes hies.
Notes
37 The meaning of this expression is not clear; it has a political signification.