The 14th century Japanese Buddhist monk and author Yoshida Kenko (1283-1352) kept a book of Bai Juyi’s poems, saying it is “a most wonderful comfort to sit lone beneath a lamp, book in hand, and commune with someone from the past whom you have never met.”
That statement forever rings true.
Darling Xiangling, on Winter Solstice Night
I can not feel her beauty,
the quilt is too cold to touch.
On this the longest of nights,
we two must sleep alone.Bai Juyi (772-846)
冬至夜怀湘灵
白居易
艳质无由见，寒衾不可亲。
何堪最长夜，俱作独眠人。
Darling Xiangling,
Huái, 怀. “Darling,” Touch me with your love.
From Wang Wei to Kenko to Sam Cooke (Darling You Send Me), to Leonard Cohen (Dance Me to the End of Love), love has inspired us to the depths and heights of our emotion.
They played together, grew up together, and they were childhood sweethearts. Separated when Bai Juyi went off to Chang’an at the age of sixteen. Reunited when Bai Juyi returned home at nineteen. She was fifteen and Bai wrote a poem to her, the Neighbor Girl. For three years they kept each other company. But eventually Bai Juyi left and all they had were memories.
And this poem.
