Anon.
This is typical of many such songs, most of which are attributed to women, i.e., secondary wives, concubines or discarded mistresses. On the other hand it may have been a love song written by a musician for the use of dancing girls.
Over the mountain hangs the setting moon,
A white jade lantern by a purple door.
Upon the polished paper of my floor
A pool of moonlight spreads, and very soon
My hands fall from my lute. How can I play,
Alone on such a night, the “Rainbow Spray”?
Far off in blossom gardens of the south
My master sleeps tonight where peach blooms fall
And shoes of willow green dance through the hall.
There many a smile on red hibiscus mouth—
And hands more skilful on the lute than mine—
Surround him where the silken lanterns shine.
Ten thousand mountains hide him from my sight.
Filled with my tears and my remembering,
Deep silence broods on courtyards of the spring.
Moon of white jade, look down on him tonight!
Tell me what clouds of fragrance and of flame
Enfold him, now that he forgets my name.