Chu Shu Chen
Spring
Spring has come. I try to forget
All the old quarrels and anguish.
In the gentle breeze, in the clear
Brightness all things should start anew.
But why do the birds all hate me?
And why do the flowers betray me?
And why do the peach and cherry
Blossoms prostrate me? Tears streak
The paint on my cheeks. My girdle
Is too loose for my starved body.
When spring comes with the third moon,
I know I am a burden
To my lord. But, O my lord,
In the third moon of spring the East
Wind is a heavy burden to me.

(from "One Hundred Poems from the Chinese)

transl. by Kenneth Rexroth