ON READING THE SEAS AND MOUNTAINS CLASSIC

Since ancient times everyone had died
What man ever gained eternal life,
Never dying, never growing old
Ten thousand years like a single day?
Let Crimson Spring provide my drink
And Circle Hill supply my food.
Then I will wander with the Three Stars,
My term of life will never end.

(eighth stanza)


T'ao Ch'ien (tr. James Robert Hightower)