The Moon over Suoxi
The Moon over Suoxi By Su Ye After taking a bath, the room and corridor were silent. Where was everyone? It was said they had all gone to watch Hong Kong martial arts films. I really found it incredible. In such a beautiful and secluded mountain valley, one would fear even to breathe lest it be tainted. Could one still take in such bizarre and motley sights and swallow them into one's chest? Not me! On the balcony without railings, the wife of the senior Mr. Bi Ye sat quietly, waving a small fan. She told me that…
The Moon over Suoxi
By Su Ye
After taking a bath, the room and corridor were silent. Where was everyone? It was said they had all gone to watch Hong Kong martial arts films. I really found it incredible. In such a beautiful and secluded mountain valley, one would fear even to breathe lest it be tainted. Could one still take in such bizarre and motley sights and swallow them into one's chest? Not me!
On the balcony without railings, the wife of the senior Mr. Bi Ye sat quietly, waving a small fan. She told me that today was the fifteenth day of the sixth lunar month. So she, too, was one to watch the moon rather than kung fu films? I smiled, and she smiled too. Ye Meng, who had come over, and I were both surprised to find that the peaks, which had just seemed so burdened with cares, suddenly stirred, as if shifting a thin gauze. After a while, behind the dense branches on the slope over there, a full moon, golden and bright, like a peerless beauty, lifted the bamboo curtain and slowly stepped into the green courtyard... So serene and magnanimous! We could not sit still and decided to go, to go down the mountain.
The path was winding, and the rock peaks were high and low. Therefore the moon was always hidden and then visible. Although the vast sky was like white silk, the mountains, path, trees, and grass were bright in one stretch and dark in another. Walking into the bright places was like drinking cool wine; walking into the dark places made one feel as if in an enchanted realm. Thus drinking and being enchanted, amid the copper-reed-like chirping of unknown summer insects, before we knew it we had walked ten or twenty li of mountain path. Gradually we heard a kind of urgent yet gentle wordless pouring out, piercing rocks and rinsing stones, softly choked yet persistent. In such deep mountains! On such a quiet night! Who else but Suoxi? — My heart beat faster. I quickened my steps a few paces, and indeed the mountains opened and the trees parted. I saw the bright moon hanging high, and a wooden bridge lying under the clear moonlight, as if asleep. And that clear Suoxi, exposed to sunlight by day, now seemed shy, trying to cover its beautiful body with the shadows of the mountains on both banks and the uneven rocks in the water. But how could it be covered! On the shallows, the stones, and among the rock crevices, the sound of water flowed with patches of elegant shimmering light. The heavier the shadows, the more bright spots there were, like leaping spirits. It was impossible to tell whether it was moonlight or water light...
“Shall we go down?” Ye Meng pointed to a large yellow stone in the stream, half bright and half dark, and whispered.
“Go down, of course go down.” I also whispered in reply.
In the interplay of silver and ink-black light and shadow, stepping on water and stones, we sat on the rock slab. I looked at Ye Meng, who was as if entranced, just holding her head up. That black silky hair wound down from her shoulders, straight to her waist, suddenly reminding me of the ethereal grace of the Goddess of the Xiang River. Then I looked at the lush thatch grass on the other bank, swaying in the moonlight with silver-gray silk tassels, like fringes on plain-colored banners, tinged with a sorrowful flavor. I wondered whether the mighty aura of Yao and Shun had just blown over those tassel tips. A roosting bird gave a “quack” and, startling the water light, fluttered into the dark mountain shadows. The moon walked silently; one could not see where she came from or where she was going.
I had probably long since been entranced. Naturally there were no words, and even breathing was superfluous. I felt my heart sinking. Quieting. Quiet to the utmost. I only wanted to sit like this forever and ever, sit, sit, until the stone was cold, the water cold, and the wind cold, not knowing how deep the night had grown; sit until I did not know what night this was; sit until my whole body was clear and all cares empty; sit until I no longer needed to know that in this world there are still birth, death, suffering, and sorrow...
I really do not know how long we sat. In the end, I could not escape my mortal nature. I knew the night would end and the moon had a home, so it was better to return while the mood was still unexhausted.
The mountain path was already filled with light mist, and I felt dew falling on my eyebrows. A crooked branch made me jump. I broke into a sweat, thinking it was a snake. Looking up, I could see the colored lights of the mountaintop guesthouse, swaying under the eaves. Only when I got closer did I see that every window was pitch black, and there was even snoring. These fortunate people!
I walked softly to the door of the room. Ye Meng did not reach out to turn on the light. I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that she, like me, at this moment, except for a moon over Suoxi, could not tolerate anything else in her heart or eyes.
A thousand miles away.
My heart returns with the moonlight.
In the next life I would willingly be a stone,
And marry the waters of Suoxi.
Ah, perhaps only Ye Meng can know that this “poem” of mine is not just a social gesture written in a moment of madness?