Liu Yuxi 劉禹錫
c. 826 · Tang China · Black Robe Lane, in Nanjing, was where the greatest families of the Six Dynasties lived
By Red Bird Bridge the wild grasses flower; at the mouth of Black Robe Lane the evening sun slants. The swallows that once flew before the halls of the Wangs and the Xies now fly into the homes of ordinary people.
朱雀橋邊野草花，烏衣巷口夕陽斜。
舊時王謝堂前燕，飛入尋常百姓家。"Black Robe Lane," in the Complete Tang Poems
In the same thread
Hesiod Ἡσίοδος
c. 700 BC · Boeotia, ancient Greece
I wish I were not living among the men of the fifth age, but had either died before or been born after. For now it is truly a race of iron.
μηκέτʼ ἔπειτʼ ὤφελλον ἐγὼ πέμπτοισι μετεῖναι
ἀνδράσιν, ἀλλʼ ἢ πρόσθε θανεῖν ἢ ἔπειτα γενέσθαι.
νῦν γὰρ δὴ γένος ἐστὶ σιδήρεονWorks and Days, lines 174–176
Gil Jae 吉再
early 15th century (recorded in a songbook of 1728) · Goryeo and Joseon Korea · Visiting Gaeseong, the old capital of fallen Goryeo
I ride back alone, on one horse, into the capital of five hundred years. The hills and streams are as they were; the great men are nowhere to be found. Ah, those days of peace: were they a dream?
五百年 都邑地를 匹馬로 도라드니
山川은 依舊ᄒᆞ되 人傑은 간 듸 업다
어즈버 太平烟月이 ᄭᅮᆷ이런가 ᄒᆞ노라"Hoegoga," in Cheonggu yeongeon (1728)
Yi Saek 李穡
14th century · Goryeo Korea · In Pyongyang, the old capital of Goguryeo
Yesterday I passed Yeongmyeong Temple and climbed for a while to Bubyeok Pavilion. The city is empty; a single sliver of moon. The rocks are old; a thousand autumns of cloud.
昨過永明寺 暫登浮碧樓
城空月一片 石老雲千秋Mogeun jip, "Bubyeok Pavilion"
Du Mu 杜牧
mid-9th century · Tang China · "Flowers in the Rear Court" is the song said to have been written by a ruler who lost his kingdom
Mist wraps the cold water and moonlight wraps the sand; at night I moor on the Qinhuai, near the wine shops. The singing girl knows nothing of the grief of a lost kingdom: across the river she still sings "Flowers in the Rear Court."
煙籠寒水月籠沙，夜泊秦淮近酒家。
商女不知亡國恨，隔江猶唱後庭花。"Mooring on the Qinhuai," in the Complete Tang Poems
Du Xunhe 杜荀鶴
later 9th century · Tang China
When small, its prickly head was buried deep in the grass. Now, little by little, it shows above the weeds. People do not know a tree that will touch the clouds. They wait until it touches the clouds to call it tall.
自小刺頭深草裏，而今漸覺出蓬蒿。
時人不識凌雲木，直待凌雲始道高。"The Little Pine," in the Complete Tang Poems
1 in 100 Billion · The social network of those who came before us