Sitting Alone on Chingting Mountain

Leaning on a moss-soft rock,
My mind at rest, clouds drift past.
A single crane heads home in the fading light,
Its call absorbed by the evening quiet.

Below, the valley folds into shadow;
pine and stream trade whispers.
No one comes, no one goes—
only the mountain and the wind,
When the light fades I head home strangely elated.
- Heron Dance interpretation of a poem by Wang Wei

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Wang Wei (王維, 699 – 761 AD) was one of the most celebrated poets, painters, and musicians of the Tang dynasty—a man who embodied the ideal of harmony between nature, art, and contemplation. His life moved between the intense formality of the imperial court and the deep quiet of the mountains he loved.

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