I drink wine while listening to the debut performance of my new song. The
weather and the stage are the same as those of last year, but the sun that sets
in the west never reverses its course. The flowers have no choice but to wither
and fall. The returning wild geese and I seem to have met before. I walk back
and forth in solitude on the fragrant path in my little garden.
1 Shu Yan was a native of Lin-chuan City. Tong-shu was his other first name. He
could write essays at the age of seven. In 1005 A.D., he was summoned to the
capital to attend a special exam for geniuses. After he passed the exam, the
emperor gave him a certificate equivalent to passing the Advanced Exam. In other
words, he was qualified for a high-ranking government position when he was only
fourteen. At the peak of his career, he was appointed as a Great Scholar and
the commissioner of the privy council.