In the Mountains

Why do I live among the green mountains?

I laugh and don’t answer.

My soul is calm:

It dwells in another heaven and earth

Belonging to no one.

The peach trees are in flower.

The water flows on.

                  —Li Bai  [Li Po]  (701-762)

                                     adapted by Glenn Hughes

                                     from a translation by Shigeyoshi Obata