“It’s the fourteenth of August, and I’m too hot To endure food, or bed. Steam and fear of scorpions Keep me awake. I’m told the heat won’t fade with Autumn. Swarms of flies arrive. I’m roped into my clothes. In another moment I’ll scream down the office As the paper mountains rise higher on my desk. O those real mountains to the south of here! I gaze at the ravines kept cool by pines. If I could walk on ice, with my feet bare!”
— Too Much Heat, Too Much Work, Tu Fu (712-770), Translated by Carolyn Kizer
















