Pale Tolling of the Bell
Mu Mutian

Pale tolling of the bell decaying dim
Spreads across the delicate bleak misty valley
—Withered grass layer upon layer—
Listen: the everlasting absurd ancient bell tolls
Listen: sound upon sound

The ancient bell drifts on the sheening of ripples
The ancient bell drifts among gray-green poplars
The ancient bell drifts in the soughing of the wind
—Moon shadows leisurely leisurely—
The ancient bell drifts in the floating of clouds

Wafting mutton fragrance
Water's edge withered grass near the untrod path
—Sorrow of the past eternal longings fresh goblet—
Listen to the reiterated desolation

From the ancient bell floating floating somewhere crepuscular home
The ancient bell fades into wisps of less drifting smoke
The ancient bell hibernates into water sleeping ripples babbling
The ancient bell hibernates into faint distant cloudy hills
The ancient bell floats into the vast ocean
—The fading past eternal joys bitterness

The soft tolling drifts on the waves of moonlight
The soft tolling slowly enters the shining strand of the galaxy
—Ah! the distant ancient bell echoes the ancient song of home—
The faint ancient bell reflects the song of home
The distant ancient bell enters nothing the home of immensity

Listen the rotten ancient bell in the gray-yellow valley
Enters the boundless expanse mellow delicate
Dried leaves withered grass follow the dull north wind
Listen sound upon sound—dimmer, dimmer—
Absurd immense decayed eternal bell of home
Listen in the deep valley of dusk