A Poem Translation

The Flowering Tree
By Xi Murong

So that we could meet
At the height of my beauty

For this
I prayed to Buddha for 500 years
I pleaded that we might meet in this life
And so he made me a tree
Growing by the way you would take

In the sunlight
Carefully blooming
Each petal my past life's desire

When you come by
Please carefully listen
To the quivering leaves
It is my yearning passion

And when you finally go
Without even a glimpse
My friend
Upon the ground behind you
Are not fallen petals but the fragments of my heart

Dead dogs

Several hungry puppies were suckling, but their uncaring mother went out into the cold of winter, and being still attached, the puppies froze to death.

-Story from a friend-