is a thing of lesser importance; it is the aroma which remains and delights.
The poems of the T`angs are full of this subtle aroma, this suggestive
compelling fragrance which lingers when the songs have passed away.
It is as though the Aeolian harps had caught some strayed wind
from an unknown world, and brought strange messages from peopled stars.

A deep simplicity touching many hidden springs, a profound regard
for the noble uses of leisure, things which modern critics of life
have taught us to despise -- these are the technique and the composition
and colour of all their work.

Complete surrender to a particular mood until the mood itself
surrenders to the artist, and afterwards silent ceaseless toil
until a form worthy of its expression has been achieved --
this is the method of Li Po and his fellows. And as for leisure,
it means life with all its possibilities of beauty and romance.
The artist is ever saying, "Stay a little while! See,
I have captured one moment from eternity." Yet it is only in the East
that poetry is truly appreciated, by those to whom leisure to look around them
is vital as the air they breathe. This explains the welcome given
by Chinese Emperors and Caliphs of Bagdad to all roving minstrels
in whose immortality, like flies in amber, they are caught.




A Poet's Emperor