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Authors: Joely Sue Burkhart

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BOOK: Golden
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When the Emperor called, every woman in his palace rushed to do his bidding.

Even his Empress.

Reader’s Note

The poem quoted by Jin and the Emperor is from
Tang Shi San Bai Shou, 300 Tang Poems
, called “A Song of Unending Sorrow.” In this poem the Emperor seeks a great beauty and finally finds a young girl whose smile alone “casts a hundred spells.” He loves her so much that he begins to neglect his duties.

During a rebellion, she’s killed.

Inconsolable, the Emperor can’t go on without her. He lingers where she died and makes it his temporary palace. He seeks her in dreams, but year after year passes without a sign from his love. In desperation, his people ask a Taoist priest to seek her spirit. The priest searches high and low, every forgotten void of the spirit world, until he finds her on an enchanted isle at sea.

She breaks a hairpin the Emperor had given to her, and sends back half of the pin with the priest. “Our souls belong together. Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely meet again.” She also reminds the Emperor of their secret promise—someday they would fly to heaven, two birds with the wings of one.

In the English translation, it’s not clear who speaks at the end, but I believe it’s the Emperor, listening to her words from the priest while he holds the broken hairpin in his hand.

Earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end,

While this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.

 

If you’d like to read more Tang Dynasty poetry, there’s a nice electronic archive at http://etext.virginia.edu/chinese.

About the Author

Joely always has her nose buried in a book, especially one with mythology, fairy tales and romance. She, her husband and their three monsters live in Missouri. By day, she’s a computer programmer with a master’s degree in mathematics. When night falls, she bespells the monsters so she can write.

 

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ISBN: 978-14268-9214-1

Copyright © 2011 by Joely Sue Burkhart

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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