Fast Day 17 September 28, 2007 {Viewing Xiang Lake...}

Viewing Xiang Lake from the Pavilion of the Four Great Ministers


Yang Shi and Zhao Shanqi;
Gu Zhong and Guo Yuanming;
they created the lake
for benefit of farmers and
the people of the districts and townships.

The Sun and Wu usurped the lake
and built structures large
and illegal for themselves
and brought ill times and ruin to
the people of the districts and townships.

Weeds choke the water and lily pads are unseen.
The smoke from the kilns fills the air;
its odor is everywhere, night and day.
The Earth is changing;
The Times are out of joint:
In 1551 the plum trees of Xiaoshan
had oranges hanging from their boughs.
"If trees produce what is inappropriate,
farmers and citizens will be robbed."

The Ice no longer forms in the North;
great fires sweep across the plain in summer;
the sea is starving and whales have disappeared;
the Earth cries out to its Mothers, the light and the dark:
who knows what will happen?
War and its rumors are everywhere;
no one easily lays a head to one's pillow now.
The ministers no longer serve the people and
all government is up for sale.