Three-Mountain Pass
A cliff face. Another. And still a third.
Who was so skilled to carve this craggy scene:
the cavern's red door, the ridge's narrow cleft,
the black knoll bearded with little mosses?
A twisting pine bough plunges in the wind,
showering a willow's leaves with glistening drops.
Gentlemen, lords, who could refuse, though weary
and shaky in his knees, to mount once more?
Note: Maurice Durand notes that this range is almost certainly the Deo Tam Diep in central North Vietnam where the mountains are calcareous and of a blackish color but, he adds innocently, "I'on n'a pas de grotte avec une grande ouventure." While an actual landscape may have suggested this poem to Ho Xuan Huong, the particular contours--the active pine and willows--comprise a sexual landscape as well. Pines traditionally stand for men; willows, for women.
