I See You With Your Bamboo Rods Poem by Helen Jane Waddell

I see you with your bamboo rods
Go fishing up the K'e.
Fain would I rise and come to you,
And all day long I think of you,
But I am far away.

The waters of the K'e lie east,
And west the Ts'en-yuen.
But now I am a married wife,
And maid that is a wedded wife,
She comes not home again.

The waters of the K'e lie east,
The Ts'en-yuen are west.
My white teeth flash, I smile on him,
These girdle-gems were given by him,
His wife is richly dressed.

There in the river leaped a fish.
The oars dip in the K'e.
O that I might come back again,
And then I might forget again,
Forget but for a day!

translated from the Chinese; written eighth century B.C.