TIME ON PAPER 紙上歲月

POEMS BY YUNGTZE
蓉子詩選*
TIME ON PAPER 紙上歲月

Time on paper lacks conscience
It passes from a huge stack
To a few thin pages.

How does it pass?
Bit by bit each month
One short line each week
A period on it each day
Before the eyes can focus on it
It has already been taken away.

A gust of wind,
A heavy downpour,
Can destroy the pages of time.

The fresh green dripping with dew at dawn
The leaves scattered by the wind at dusk serve to show
Time is the most precious thing in life
Not pearls or jade

— They only make perfection more perfect still
Only time accompanies you to old age as a matter of
course

If a person doesn’t labor on it
There will be nothing to show
Save ruining time’s valuable page.

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By Yungtze 蓉子
Translated by John J. S. BALCOM 陶忘機