February 12: The Willow Leaf

[February Feels Like]

The maiden who gazes dreamily from her window

resting on her elbows,—

I do not love her for her splendid palace

on the banks of the Yellow River;

I love her

because she has dropped a little willow leaf

into the water.

I do not love the breeze from the east

because it brings me

the scent of the blossoming peach trees

that whiten the Oriental Mountain;

I love it

because it has blown the little willow

leaf close to my boat.

And the little willow leaf,—

I do not love it for reminding me

of the tender spring

that has just flowered again;

I love it

because the maiden has written a name on it

with the point of her embroidery needle,

and because that name is mine.

---

Zhang Jiuling (张九龄), as found in Chinese Love Poems (1959) written in the T'ang Dynasty in the early 700s AD