Yesterday I heard that such-a-one was gone;
this morning they tell me that so-and-so is dead.
Of friends and acquaintance more than two-thirds
have suffered change and passed to the Land of Ghosts.
Those that are gone I shall not see again;
they, alas, are for ever finished and done.
Those that are left, -- where are they now?
They are all scattered, --a thousand miles away.
Those I have known and loved through all my life,
on the fingers of my hand-- how many do I count?
Only the prefects of T'ung, Kuo and Li
and Feng Province-- just those four.
Longing for each other we are all grown gray;
through the Fleeting World rolled like a wave in the stream.
Alas that the feasts and frolics of old days
have withered and vanished, bringing us to this!
When shall we meet and drink a cup of wine
and laughing gaze into each other's eyes?

    --Bai Juyi [白居易] (772-846), translated by Arthur Waley (1889-1966)

感逝寄遠

寄通州元侍御、果州崔員外、澧州李舍人、鳳州李郎中。

昨日聞甲死，今朝聞乙死。
知識三分中，二分化為鬼。
逝者不複見，悲哉長已矣。
存者今如何？去我皆萬裡。
平生知心者，屈指能有幾？
通果澧鳳州，眇然四君子。
相思俱老大，浮世如流水。
應嘆舊交游，凋零日如此。
何當一杯酒，開眼笑相視？