I built my hut within where others live

by T'ao Ch'ien


Original Language Chinese

I built my hut within where others live,
But there is no noise of carriages and horses.
You ask how this is possible:
When the heart is distant, solitude comes.
I pluck chrysanthemums by the eastern fence
And see the distant southern mountains.
The mountain air is fresh at dusk.
Flying birds return in flocks.
In these things there lies a great truth,
But when I try to express it, I cannot find the words.

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Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry The Selected Poems of T'ao Ch'ien



I built my hut