YESTERDAY I heard that such-a-one was gone; This morning they tell me that so-and-so is dead. Of friends and acquaintances more than two-thirds Have suffered change and passed to the Land of Ghosts. Those that are gone I shall not see again; They, alas, are for ever finished and done. Those that are left,where are they now? They are all scattered,a thousand miles away. Those I have known and loved through all my life, On the fingers of my hand how many do I count? Only the prefects of T'ung, kuo and Li And feng Province-just those four? Longing for each other we are all grown grey; Through the Fleeting World rolled like a wave in the stream. Alas that the feasts and frolics of old days Have withered and vanished, bringing us to this! When shall we meet and drink a cup of wine And laughing gaze into each other's eyes?