The Open Gate of Night
Yu Guangzhong

The so-called night is but a frontier castle,
The night reader its lonely host.
The lamplight comes softly flowing
Into a spellbinding moat.
And, leaning on the lace of battlement,
The lonely host is full of thought.
For tall stand the two gates of the fort:
The south gate closed upon the present,
The north gate open unto the past.
Once across the moat,
The meandering courier road
Soon loses itself in the mist.