By now, it has been snowing for three days,
I walk out alone to watch the snow fall.
As white elephants rise beyond my gaze,
And on their sides, khaki snakes crawl and sprawl.
Snow keeps falling and twisting in the air,
Like last year’s beauties danced in the grand hall.
But now, at the same point of this year:
Within a thousand mountains no birds call;
Ten thousand miles, no humans persist;
Only the sky, the cloud, the mountain, and I,
Do co-exist in the endless white mist.
Then I noticed a plum tree up high,
Its blossoms, covered by snow and by freeze,
Still bloom bright against the cold winter breeze.