I was inspired by The Orchid Pavilion gathering of 353 CE which was a cultural and poetic event during the Six dynasties era, in China. The gentlemen (42 literati) had engaged in a drinking contest: rice-wine cups were floated down a small winding creek as the men sat along its banks; whenever a cup stopped, the man closest to the cup was required to empty it and write a poem. This was known as “floating goblets”. In the end, twenty-six of the participants composed thirty-seven poems.
Wife, as my life fades with the closing
sun, weeds now overtake linen paths driven
into the wilderness,
I have no strength to fight them,
and soon you must walk this way alone
though my heart is warm still –
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