“門外誰掃殘紅 夜來風 玉簫聲斷人何處 Who has swept away the remaining red outside my door? Was it last night’s wind? The notes of the jade flute break off. Where has he gone?”

—

Complaint Against a Prince - Spring Ends (怨王孫 春暮) by Li Qingzhao (李清照), trans. by Wendy Chen. 

Li Qingzhao was a highly influential Song Dynasty writer. Regarded as a master of the style of “delicate restraint” (婉约派), she is often considered to be one of the most important women poets in Chinese history. She is credited with the first detailed critique of the metrics of Chinese poetry. Around a hundred of her poems are believed to have survived the passage of time. 

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