Deep cold withers the fading season's might,
A heavy snow descends on Central Land.
The scene is dim for a thousand miles in sight,
Its radiance blurs the six directions grand.
Before it falls, a gnat flits past the eye;
Vast leaves drop down, startling the autumn sky.
Who guides the smoke-white scroll that long extends?
The thin cloud-veil by itself in air ascends.
Its force seems light, yet dips and rises free;
Its shadows scatter, leave and stay with glee.
Jade and stone share the morning's gleam as one,
Pearls and gems in the dark are jointly thrown.
The walled town bright with armored troops arrayed,
The wild fields blurred with banners' disarray.
All forms are rich in this modeled display,
Every peril enclosed in its own way.
Treading the void, I know the trailing art;
Gazing afar, I'm glad to climb the tower's heart.
Like jade discs holding precious belts in store,
Or curtains decked with hooks that gems outpour.
What moisture can compare with this moist grace?
How could sweet wells match this sweet dew's embrace?
All things appear in one chaotic state,
Dense shades share in a sorrowful, bleak fate.
The waves' sound swells as in a boundless sea;
The plain's hue borrows from the wheat's decree.
It blows upon the face, inviting wine;
It soaks the robe, mocking the poor's decline.
It drives away the summer's venomous blight,
And clears the Chu land's baleful miasma's night.
Men thank it for redeeming mud's disgrace;
Homes turn to realms of boundless, free embrace.
Paintings abound with powdered white and hue,
Songs reach their peak in metaphor's review.
As time goes on, the wind grows fiercer still;
The slow melt marks the year's advancing will.
My shallow talent is no match for thine;
My secret thoughts for you I now design.
Your lofty tone invades both Liang and Ying;
Such copious words no recompense can bring.