Today is the first of September
The end of summer in Taiyuan
Hopes of love expired, summer lapsed away
Too impeccable to last.

The crickets put their songbooks away
The long march over for another year
Hearts moving, yet without a dream
Their music web will sing a different tune.

One last walk by the Fen
and memories of dizziness.
Faintly the steps begin to grieve
each one heavy with the waning light.

And now the cold kiss of a Shanxi winter
invites me to walk by its placid stream.
And drink its cooling breath
More vivid than the sunsets final glow.