Chapter 24: Those girls

Those girls

1o7 piece,

Especially those girls

Liu Guozong

Don't go searching anymore, poet; the beauty that has passed is like fallen flowers, already ground into dust by the old man of time—you cannot find it again.

Now it's autumn again; you see the garden full of yellow flowers piled up with so much dark fragrance, so much brightness, waiting for you to come and admire you, for you to become enamored. The autumn rain is also falling heavily. If you come late, that cold wind in the autumn rain will steal their dark fragrance.

Poet, don't worry anymore; when you are mentioned, nobody is unaware of your great fame. Aren't you the Qing dynasty female poet Li Qingzhao? You have been worried for a thousand years; on the ground, the yellow flowers have bloomed and withered over a thousand times. Everything has passed, everything has already passed. In life you were not an outstanding person; in death you were not a heroic ghost.

Poet, when you are worried, your enemies will be happy. When you are old, being old will block others' paths; blocking others' paths is blocking others' happiness. Others, when they are old, are the same.

Poet, once you understand the aforementioned principle, you will be able to kick away the word 'worry' with your foot. People always treat fleeting things as eternal, and always wish to obtain eternity. Especially those girls (of course you are no longer a girl), after adulthood they always use memories to revive youth, to let the withered life bloom beautiful flowers again. But no matter how hard you try, time will still hollow you out, leaving you with nothing.

I have once done such a foolish thing: several years ago, I spent a lot of time following the footprints of time, seeking lost childhood, including the green plum you once smelled, the goose cry you heard, the bamboo horse you rode.

Later, a foreign wise person said to me: 'Do not use your own language—here, there, and farther away—to measure time. The past is merely a fleeting time that does not return, while the future is an era I can never reach.'

Now I understand; the present moment contains all of time, including everything in time that is anticipated, achieved, and verified.

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