Chapter 2 2

16 I have received invitations to this world festival and my life has been blessed.My eyes saw the beautiful scene, and my ears heard the intoxicating music. In this banquet, my task was to play music, and I did my best. Now, I ask, has the time come at last when I may go in and behold your face and offer my silent salute? 17 I only wait for love, to deliver me at last into his hands.This is the reason for my delay and I am responsible for the delay. They will bind me tightly with laws and regulations; but I always avoid them, because I only wait for love to finally deliver me into his hands.

People scold me for not paying attention to people; and I know their scolding is justified. The marketplace is over, and the work of the busy man is done.Those who told me not to go back with anger.I only wait for love, to deliver me at last into his hands. 18 The clouds and haze piled up, and the darkness deepened.Oh love, why did you leave me waiting outside the door alone? In the middle of the day when work is the busiest, I am with everyone, but in this dark and lonely day, I only look forward to you. If you don't allow me to meet, if you completely abandon me, I really don't know how to spend this long rainy day.

I can't stop staring at the distant cloudy sky, my heart wanders and laments with the restless wind. 19 If you don't speak, I will endure and fill my heart with your silence. I will wait silently, like a sleepless night in the starlight, bowing my head patiently. The morning will surely come, and the darkness will fade away, and your voice will pierce the sky and cast bets from golden springs. Then your words shall take wing and sound in every nest of mine, and your music shall blossom in the flowers of my forest. 20 On the day when the lotus flower bloomed, alas, my soul wandered unconsciously.My flower basket was empty, and I ignored the flowers.

From time to time, a period of melancholy would attack me. I woke up from my dream and felt a strange fragrance in the south wind. This confused warmth makes my heart ache, and I feel like it is the breath of summer longing, seeking fulfillment. I didn't know at the time that it was so close to me, and it was mine, that this perfect warmth was still open in the depths of my own heart. twenty one I must get out of my boat and go.The days are dragging away on the shore--I am miserable! Say goodbye to the flowers in spring.Now it's falling red all over the place, but I'm waiting and lingering.

The sound of the tide is getting louder, and the yellow leaves are falling on the shady beach on the river bank. What emptiness you gaze into!Don't you feel that there is a burst of surprise floating from the sky together with the distant singing from the other side? twenty two In the thick shadow of the rain in July, you walk with secret footsteps, as light as night, avoiding all watchmen. Today, I close my eyes early in the morning, ignoring the howling east wind, and a thick veil covers the blue sky that is always awake. The forest and fields live in the sound of singing, and every house closes its doors.In this lonely street, you are a lonely pedestrian.O my only friend, my darling, my door is open--dream not walk by.

twenty three Are you still out on a love trip on this stormy night, my friend? The sky wailed like a disappointed man. I can't sleep tonight.I keep opening the door and looking into the darkness, my friend! I can't see anything.I don't know which way you're going! Did you grope your way to me, my friend, from the black bank of the river, from the far edge of the sad woods, through the dark winding paths? twenty four If the day is past and the birds do not sing, and if the wind grows weary, then cover me with a thick veil of darkness, as you wrap the earth in the quilt of sleep at dusk, and wrap it gently around me. Water lily petals close up.

The traveler has not reached his journey, his grain bag is empty, his clothes are torn and stained, and he is exhausted. You relieve his shyness and embarrassment, and make his life revive like a flower under the benevolent night. 25 In this sleepy night, let me submissively surrender myself to sleep and entrust my trust to you. Let me not force my languid spirits to prepare a perfunctory service to you. It is you who pull the night to cover the tired eyes of the day, making the eyes renewed in the fresh joy of awakening. 26 He came and sat beside me, and I didn't wake up.What a dreadful sleep, alas, wretched me!

He came in the still night; with his harp in his hand, my dream soul resonated with his music. Alas, why is every night wasted like this?Heh, his breath touches my sleep, why can't I always see his face? 27 Light, where is the light?Kindle it with the burning fire of longing! Here is the lamp, but there is no flame,--is this your fate, my heart! You might as well be dead! Sorrow knocks at your door, and she sends word that your Lord is awake, and bids you run to love's rendezvous in the darkness of night. Clouds and mist covered the sky, and the rain kept falling.I don't know what's stirring inside of me,--I don't understand its meaning.

A flash of lightning threw a deeper darkness in my sight, and my heart groped for the path that the music of that night called to me. Light, where is the light?Kindle it with the burning fire of longing!Thunder was ringing, and the wind howled through the sky.The night is as black as a black rock.Don't let time pass in darkness.Use your life to light the lamp of love. 28 The net is tough, but when I want to tear it, my heart hurts. All I want is to be free, and I'm ashamed to want to be free. I know that the priceless treasure is in you, and you are my best friend, but I can't bear to clear my house full of mundane things.

I wear the garment of dust and death; I hate it, but hold it lovingly. My debts are great, my failures great, my disgrace secret and deep; yet when I come to ask for blessings, I tremble lest my petition be granted. 29 The one whom I have imprisoned under my name weeps in prison.I keep building the wall every day; when the wall reaches the sky, my true self is blocked by the shadow of the high wall. I am proud of this high wall, and I have sanded it down, lest there be a gap in the name, I have worked hard, and I can't see my true self. 30 I went to the tryst alone.Who is following me in the darkness?

I moved away from him, but I couldn't escape. He swaggers and makes the ground dusty; every word I utter is mingled with his cry. He is my ego, my Lord, and he has no shame; but I am ashamed to come with him to your door.