in daybreak dreams master zhuang mistook himself for a butterfly,
heartsick, king wang of shu transformed himself into a sorrowful bird.
in the deep sea under a bright moon the mermaids weep pearls,
beneath the warm sun in lantian quarries the jade fades into smoke.
why are these remembrances only now being remembered?
just that these past dreams in the past were already gone.
- li shangyin, the gilt zither
