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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SAILING HOMEWARD by CHAN FANG-SHENG

First Line: CLIFFS THAT RISE A THOUSAND FEET
Last Line: AND MOVED HIS BRUSH TO WRITE A NEW SONG.
Subject(s): CHINA - MIDDLE AGES (600 B.C.- 618 A.D.); HOMECOMING;

CLIFFS that rise a thousand feet
Without a break,
Lake that stretches a hundred miles
Without a wave,
Sands that are white through all the year,
Without a stain,
Pine-tree woods, winter and summer
Ever-green,
Streams that for ever flow and flow
Without a pause,
Trees that for twenty thousand years
Your vows have kept,
You have suddenly healed the pain of a traveller's heart,
And moved his brush to write a new song.



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