Silk, Sense, and Sensibility

At this end of the river,

我住長江頭，君住長江尾。

日日思君不見君，共飲長江水。

此水幾時休，此恨何時已。

只願君心似我心，定不負相思意。

At this end of the river,

I think of you every day.

Though I can’t see you,

we drink the same water.

The river flows continuously, like my longing for you,

But if your heart matches my own, my love will not be in vain.

—Poem by Lǐ Zhīyí, Song dynasty, transcribed by Fan Enze