Donkeys in Guizhou
---Liu Zongyuan

There was no donkeys in Guizhou until an eccentric took one there by boat，but finding no use for it he set it loose in the hills．A tiger who saw this monstrous-looking beast thought it must be divine．It first surveyed the donkey from under cover，then ventured a little nearer，still keeping a respectful distance however．

Guan-guan go the ospreys ,
On the islet in the river .
The modest , retiring , virtuous , young lady : --
For our prince a good mate she .
Here long , there short , is the duckweed ,
To the left , to the right , borne about by the current .
The modest , retiring , virtuous , young lady : --
Waking and sleeping , he sought her .
He sought her and found her not ,
And waking and sleeping he thought about her .
Long he thought ; oh ! long and anxiously ;
On his side , on his back , he turned , and back again .

Seven-character-regular-verse
THE INLAID HARP
---Li Shangyin

I wonder why my inlaid harp has fifty strings,
Each with its flower-like fret an interval of youth.
...The sage Chuangzi is day-dreaming, bewitched by butterflies,
The spring-heart of Emperor Wang is crying in a cuckoo,
Mermen weep their pearly tears down a moon-green sea,

Folk-song-styled-verse
HARD ROADS IN SHU
---Li Bai

Oh, but it is high and very dangerous!
Such travelling is harder than scaling the blue sky.
...Until two rulers of this region
Pushed their way through in the misty ages,
Forty-eight thousand years had passed
With nobody arriving across the Qin border.
And the Great White Mountain, westward, still has only a bird\'s path
Up to the summit of Emei Peak --