A Feast of Lanterns

Yuan Mei (translated by L. Cranmer-Byng)

In Spring for sheer delight

I set the lanterns swinging through the trees,

Bright as the myriad argosies of night,

That ride the clouded billows of the sky.

Red dragons leap and plunge in gold and silver seas,

And, O my garden gleaming cold and white,

Thou hast outshone the fair faint moon on high.