Where does the white crane riding the void come from?
From Green Fields and Purple Canopy, originally相依.
Though it left Gou Mountain in the seventh month long ago,
After a thousand years at Liao River, it will remember to return.
Gou Mountain, vast and distant, soars in the empty expanse;
Liao River, winding and winding, sighs by the city walls.
Once I followed a feather-robed guest to pace the Cinnabar Hill,
And once chased after an immortal to roam the Azure Vault.
The far, far Azure Vault is cut off from worldly dust;
How many layers do the rosy halls and cloudy pavilions open?
I wish to seek the golden stove in the Eastern Sea,
And still head for the white jade terrace in the Western Hills.
Alone at the Nine Marshes, its cry is clear and poignant;
At Five Miles, startling the flock, it suddenly cuts off.
Under the moon, parting ranks, they seem to cross the clouds;
Before the wind, fluttering shadows, one suspects returning snow.
Before the wind, under the moon, the road is endless;
Lodging on water, soaring on clouds, how many ways to go?
Gracefully turning, they could empty the market of Wu;
Hovering and circling, they skillfully sweep the altar of Han Emperor.
Making a tune within a zither has always been easy;
What's so hard about transmitting sound inside a drum?
Night after night, constantly flying the tune of the Silver River;
Morning after morning, often drinking from the Jade Pool's waves.
There are some who, hearing the flute, emerge from purple mist,
Or, as if changing shoes, ascend to the blue sky.
Frosty feathers suddenly control the descent of the Three Gods;
Jade wings in a flash watch two guests whirl away.
Swallows and sparrows never grasp the ambition to cross the sea;
Mayflies how could understand the years spent in the shade?
Do not say that one flight lightly covers a thousand miles—
It is to escort the Nine Immortals to the Three Mountains.