How I long for those days of pens and ink, when calligraphy ruled, and bits and bytes were things around a dining table.

来是空言去绝踪，  lái shì kōng yán qù jué zōng
月斜楼上五更种。  yuè xié lóu shàng wǔ gēng zhǒng
梦为远别啼难唤，  mèng wéi yuǎn bié tí nán huàn
书被催成墨末浓。  shū bèi cuī chéng mò mò nóng
蜡照半笼金翡翠，  là zhào bàn lóng jīn fěi cuì
麝熏微度绣芙蓉。  shè xūn wēi dù xiù fú róng
刘郎已恨蓬山远，  liú láng yǐ hèn péng shān yuǎn
更隔蓬山一万重。  gēng gé péng shān yī wàn zhòng

Arrive is just an empty word, you leave without a trace,
Throughout the fifth watch, 1 moonlight falls on the building’s face.
You’re in my dreams, where from afar you barely heed my plaint,
So hastily I write, 2 even the thick ink grows faint.
Candles light up just half this kingfisher gilded quilt,
Brocaded bed curtains betray a slight scent of musk, how I’ve aged!
No doubt Liu Lang 3 hated distant Fairy Hill,
Ten thousand mountains more keep me from the place I love.

***

About the Calligraphy
来是空言去绝踪，月斜楼上五更种。Arrive is just an empty word, you leave without a trace. Throughout the fifth watch, moonlight falls on the building’s face. (2 rows, 14 characters, Cursive Cao Script): M.O. Ndesandjo

Notes:
1.  Early in the morning

2.  Writing using the calligraphy inkbrush

3.  Prince Liu, a mythical figure beset by homesickness?

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