Hi everyone
I found this interesting little Taoist alchemical poem, while researching the Eight Immortals.
When he paid his uncle a visit, and the latter urged him to apply himself to study, Han Hsiang replied, "You and I have different ideas of study." And in order to make his meaning clear he composed the following lines:—
"In a cave mid mists and torrents by green-clad peaks I live;
I sip the dew at midnight that stars the earth like gems,
I make my food the rosy clouds that flush the coming dawn.
I play the Green Jade Melody upon a seven-stringed lute,
And melt in fiery alembics fine-powdered pearls and white;
Within my Precious Cauldron the Golden Tiger dwells;
I grow the Magic Fungus to feed the Snow-white Crows,
With Nature's creative powers my bottle-gourd is stored,
I slay the evil demons with my magic three-foot blade;
Wine fills the empty goblet when I speak the wizard word,
And flowers spring up and bloom in the twinkling of an eye;
Show me the man who doth these things in the way that I have told,
And I will gladly talk with him of the hsien who ne'er grow old."
http://www.sacred-texts.com/journals/jr ... 805_note_2
Have a great day
Don