AN EVENING MEETING
Florence Wheelock Ayscough translation
The night is the colour of Spring mists. The lamp-flower falls. And the flame bursts out brightly. In the midst of the disorder of the dressing-table Lies a black eye-stone. As she dances, A golden hairpin drops to the ground. She peeps over her fan, Arch, coquettish, welcoming his arrival. Then suddenly striking the strings of her table-lute, She sings— But what is the rain of Sorceress Gorge Doing by the shore of the Western Sea?
Li Hai-ku, 19th Century