I left my home in West Lake
in the sunshine of my youth
the world to discover-
mum wept and said: 'Do be good'.
I consoled her and dad:
'Your ways I'll follow in my sojourn
a letter home I'll send every week
I'll do you both proud--be of no concern'.
A village -school I became
Confucian culture I taught
also the best of Tang and Sung poetry
all my pupils found in rapture wrapped.
The salary was poor
in a abandoned barn I slept
reading at night in candle-light
hardship I did endure and accept.
The beautiful daughter of the headmaster
by the green summer- field I met
' So delightful are the poems you wrote':
(to me with beaming eyes) she lovingly said.
Her picture I sent to mum and dad gladly
'Ming, you're no longer young'. they confided
' it 's time you settled down- Mei is so pretty-
we hope you'll be married ere we're dead'
Mei came to the barn one early night
to her my poems I read:
her eyes welled in tears
' I love you- so very much' she suddenly said.
Two years quickly passed by
Mei's dad from cancer suffered
' Ming, you're like a son to me
take over from me' he pleaded with a look so sad.
On a sunny day Mei and I tied the knot
mum and dad travelled 8,000 li* and attended
we had the village's Chief and all the dignitaries' patronage
the event was the most ever celebrated.
* the Chinese mile, 500 metres