Soiling my gown, to plead my case I kneeled;

　　Th'ancestral voice the path to me revealed.

　　Swift jade-green dragons, birds with plumage gold,

　　I harnessed to the whirlwind, and behold,

　　At daybreak from the land of plane-trees grey,

　　I came to paradise ere close of day.

　　I wished within the sacred grove to stay,

　　The sun had sunk, and darkness wrapped the way;

　　The driver of the sun I bade to stay,

　　Ere with the setting rays we haste away.

　　The way was long, and wrapped in gloom did seem,

　　As I urged on to seek my vanished dream.

　　The dragons quenched their thirst beside the lake

　　Where bathed the sun, whilst I upon the brake

　　Fastened my reins; a golden bough I sought

　　To brush the sun, and tarred there in sport.

　　The pale moon's charioteer I then bade lead,

　　The master of the winds swiftly succeed;

　　Before, the royal blue bird cleared the way;

　　The lord of thunder urged me to delay.

　　I bade the phoenix scan the heaven wide;

　　But vainly day and night its course it tried;

　　The gathering whirlwinds drove it from my sight,

　　Rushing with lowering clouds to check my flight;

　　Sifting and merging in the firmament,

　　Above, below, in various hues they went.

　　The gate-keeper of heaven I bade give place,

　　But leaning on his door he scanned my face;

　　The day grew dark, and now was nearly spent;

　　Idly my orchids into wreaths I bent.

　　The virtuous and the vile in darkness merged;

　　They veiled my virtue, by their envy urged.