Poem in Answer to Someone's "After the Rains, Taking Pleasure among the Bamboo"
When the spring
rains come
to the southern sky
you can just make out-how
odd!-the look of frost,
the cool allure of snow.
The mass of plants
mingle thick,
indiscriminant, and lush.
But this one
with her empty heart
can hold herself alone.
Her groves kept the seven sages
high on poetry and wine.
Yet earlier still, her
tear-splotched leaves
grieved with Lord Shun's wives.
When your year turns to winter, sir,
you will know her worth-
her ice-gray green,
her virtue:
rare, strong nodes.
---Xue Tao (translated by Jeanne Larsen)
---found in Brocade River Poems: Selected Works of the Tang Dynasty Courtesan Xue Tao (1987; this poem ca. 800)