Bright Moon, Shining Night
The bright moon shines in the night; the cricket sings on the eastern wall.
Yuheng, a star in the Northern Dipper, points to the first month of winter; how clearly the many stars are ranged.
White dew wets the wild grass; the season suddenly changes again.
Autumn cicadas sing among the trees; the dark swallows have gone—whither have they flown?
Once we were fellow students; now you have risen high, beating your six pinions.
You think nothing of the friendship of joined hands; you cast me off like a footprint left behind.
The Winnow in the south, the Dipper in the north; the Herd-boy will not bear the yoke.
Truly there is no firmness of bedrock—what profit is there in an empty name?
Reading notes
Yuheng is a star in the Northern Dipper. The closing lines contrast the names of stars with tools they cannot actually serve as, questioning friendship that exists in name alone.