Thirty-six caves, wonders under heaven's dome,
Thirty-six peaks, Mount Wuyi's famous name.
Through Wuyi's hills, nine winding streams do roam,
Each bend spills out clear ripples, pure as flame.
South of the stream, north of the stream, cliffs stand face to face,
Plucked from the earth, they pierce the sky, a thousand yards in space.
Some are like cinnabar, red and bright,
Some are like jasper, green in light.
Gazing east, towers and terraces unfold;
Looking south, walls like a fortress, stern and bold.
Granaries pile up to the west,
Carriages and canopies line the north, a crowded nest.
Rugged and rugged, beyond all naming art,
Bizarre and wondrous, carved by a divine heart.
Plants and trees keep their minds through cold and heat,
Cliffs and ridges ever wear mist and rosy sheet.
The Grand Mysterious Dame, Lord Wuyi, grand and high,
With rainbow bridge and curtained pavilion, touch the purple sky.
The feast for descendants ends, mulberry fields turn to sea;
Long lutes, short drums, in vain their clamor, wild and free.
Lord Wei, Master Zhang, the Realized Man,
For love of wine, exiled eight hundred years their span.
When merit's done, white wings grow in the day's bright beam,
On cliffs their spirit sloughs, still fresh as in a dream.
I long to search the dark, the distant, to the core,
Rowing my boat at dawn, forgetting to return by evening's door.
Peaks turn, ridges join, suddenly lost again,
How can I find a flying ladder to lodge on clouds' domain?
Phoenixes, cranes have left, only apes now cry,
As if in empty air, a golden cock's call from on high.
Stones bite my feet, the waters splash and spray,
The wind blows through my clothes, a chill and mournful sway, the eddies twist and stray.
Gaping and towering, cavernous and steep,
The stone hall, true lodge, suddenly opens wide and deep.
The ravine-boat does not fall, the plank-road does not rot,
Till now, the alchemy stove and tripod seem the layered cliff's high spot.
The eye cannot take in the whole, the heart cannot feel all the woe,
The Peach Blossom Spring's fair scene I may not see again, I know.
The sun and moon o'er Ke Hill are hard to regain,
I beat my oar, the waters gurgle, clear and plain.
Riding the startled waves, down to the front shoal I go,
In a blink, I turn my head—the peaks I knew are lost below.
Alas! The ranked immortals sit on high, in dark capital's keep,
Two sages reign in turn, expanding the fiery chart so deep.
To set this world in peace and order, just and right,
Answering the royal house with jade talisman's might.
Your servant guards the southern land, a vassal true,
Your servant's heart leans northward, toward the pole, for you.
High as the mountains, deep as the streams, my wish I send,
To wish my emperor a life that has no end.