Moonlight appears like silk draped over bamboo branches.

Water’s reflection weaves a myriad of sparking jewel dewdrops.

Who crafts beautiful dreams of passing months and days?

Who knits the threads of wistful longings in one’s heart?

Tonight's banquet in this earthly realm.

With exotic otherworldly melodies to to enchant the human soul.

A thousand swans hovering in the air with their white wings.

Smooth, mellow sound of flute,  to distant layers of clouds, rising.

Oh, moon, do stay a little while longer.

The lute and harp in harmony, sometimes fast, and sometimes slow.

Quick and hurried like the fluttering of birds’s wings.. 

Gentle and slow like the leaves of autumn falling. 

Whose music contains such beautiful harmonies to intoxicate one’s heart? 

Whose fingers on the strings create the sound of teardrop pearls?

Complementing the night is the golden moon of legend and wonder.

Adding a touch of ethereal radiance to dreams, in forgetting life’s sorrows. 

translated by Vuong Thanh, 2023