Xu Zaisi

He is said to have relished sweets, thereby adopting the pen name Tianzhai (甜斋, “Sweets Study”). His son Xu Shanchang also achieved reputation. The elder Xu was at least a minor figure in officialdom, holding the rank of Circuit Sub official Functionary for Jiaxing in Zhejiang, his home city.

• Towers and halls • Of the old temple by the river. • Autumn colors slip into the water. • Green grass by the ruined wall, • Fallen leaves by the empty portico. • Green moss by the half-hidden stairs. • The stranger goes south • As the sun dips westward, • The river toward the east. • Magnolia blossoms stay • As the monks question, • “For whom?”

• As the sun sets ten thousand points of evening crows; • West wind, flowering reeds on the banks of the river. • The boat is moored by a river tavern; • And that romantic court minister- • In his dream of green skirts, • A lute.

• Hills far away, • Hills close; • All a blur of blue-green. • Confusion of stones in the rapids as we sail against the current. • Narrow as if the joined clouds were walls. • Sun sinks, crows at dusk; • West wind and homeward geese. • I sigh because the way is hard. • Blocked here • Then blocked again, • And everywhere fish soup to eat!