Han Wên-Kung

“ I could not stand by thy grave. I have sinned against Heaven: I have caused thee to be cut off in thy prime. Wretch that I am, separated from thee alike in life and death―thou at one end of the earth, I at the other―thy shadow did not accompany my form, neither shall thy spirit now blend with my dreams. The fault, the blame are mine alone.
O ye blue heavens, when shall my sorrow have end? Henceforth, the world has no charms. ”

“ Unfathomable are the appointments of what men call Heaven: inscrutable are the workings of the unseen: unknowable are the mysteries of eternal truth: unrecognisable those who are destined to attain to old age! ”

“ Father and brothers, lusty men all, died in their prime;―can then this decaying frame last long? I may not go: thou wilt not come. Alas! I fear lest at any moment I may be cut off and leave thee to unutterable grief.” Yet who would have thought that the young man was to perish and the old man to live? the strong youth to sink into a premature grave, the sick man to be made whole? ”