Parting ...

Who knows when meeting shall ever be.
It might be for years or
It might be forever

Let us then take a lump of clay,
Wet it, pat it,
And make an image of you
And an image of me.
Then smash them, crash them,
And, with a little water,
Knead them together.

And out of the clay we'll remake
An image of you, and an image of me.
Thus in my clay, there's a little of you,
And in your clay, there's a little of me.
And nothing will ever set us apart.

Living, we'll be forever in each other's heart,
And dead, we'll be buried together.






( This is an untitled poem by Madame Kuan, that was translated by Bruce Lee. Madam Kuan was the wife of the great Yuan Chao Mengfu and was herself a painter who taught for a time at the Imperial Court. Tradition has it that when in middle age, Chao considered taking a mistress, Madam Kuan wrote her husband this poem, which touched his heart and changed his mind.)