Before Me, An Arctic Fox (By Luo Ying) Poem by Denis Mair

Lovely snow-white vixen hunches before my feet, looking up
We are gulping down drinks and seal meat, she only grins
She bewitches like the daughter of Yang Guifei
As if descended from a different plane, marmoreal white
Beauty taken at its height is pure and tantalizing
I imagine apple blossoms in her world of snow
The petals are her bed, and spun ice is her gown
Her lithe walk can set the whole world swaying
No living things can catch the meaning of her faint gentle yelp
At death's door bearing great pain she summons up a smile
Who killed whom thereby slips the grasp of sad philosophizing
The long night's wind stirs her outer fur and ear-tips
She stiffens slowly, to keep from frightening fish under the ice
I take her picture, catch a gleam from mournful eyes
In truth, that is a look reserved for angels

Tr. by Denis Mair