The Elegant Birch

Isaac Levitan, Birch Forest Birkenhain 1885-1889

Birch Tree

The birch tree in winter
Leaning over the secret pool
Is Narcissus in love
With the slight white branches,
The slim trunk,
In the dark glass;
But,
Spring coming on,
Is afraid,
And scarfs the white limbs
In green.

Arthur Seymour John Tessimond 1902-1962

Our Birch Avenue

What will it look like twenty,
fifty years from now?

Plum Blossom

Photo: Frank Daniels

The entire day I searched for spring but

spring I could not find,

In my straw sandals I tramped among the

mountain peak clouds.

Home again, smiling, I finger a sprig of

fragrant plum blossoms;

Spring was right here on these branches in

all of its glory!

Plum Blossom Nun, c.800

trans: Beata Grant

I'M IDLE

Artist: Daniel Gabriel Rossetti

I'm idle, as osmanthus flowers fall,
This quiet night in spring, the hill is empty.
The moon comes out and startles the birds on the hill,
They don't stop calling in the spring ravine.

Wang Wei

Birds calling in the ravine

DEEP IN SPRING

West Lake, Hangzhou, Zhejiang

Deep in spring, the rain's passed - West Lake is good.

A hundred grasses vie in beauty,

Confusion of butterflies, clamour of bees,

The clear day hurries the blossom to burst forth in the warmth.

Oars in lilies, a painted barge moving without haste.

I think I see a band of sprites -

Light reflected in the ripples,

The high wind carries music over the broad water.

ouyang xiu