At The Royal Palace of Siam

By Wu Tzu

Walking by the golden palace,
I thought sadly of the ancient concubines!

Do you still remember?
Soft elegant footsteps,
And magnificent abodes,

From the ancient capital with warm, inviting embraces,
Melodious sounds of the lute,
Floated leisurely in the evening air at the royal chamber,
Silk bed and velvet pillows,
Radiant like autumn flowers, oh tender lips,
Ivory skin and rosy soft heel,

Alas! A thousand years have passed,
The world reminisces still …

Know you not! It's just:
Time!

Lotus petals on the royal lake,
Embracing love for the worn out fortress.
Here I returned,
Who remembered,
Who felt regrets?

The chateau bowed low,
Welcome the stranger,
Dust from the royal carriages,
Bring tears!

History is full of the fantasized legends.
Where are they now?
Fragments of the old incense!
Returning, I tasted my tears…
Of grief of the transient mirage.

Alas! Through new and old times,
The world remains unchanged.
Footsteps carved on the generational lineage,
Dust covered,
Frozen in dew!

A voice whispers stories from the myth,
Of life's joys and sorrows,
Of upheavals. 

On fateful wings,
The ever-changing fairy merrily laughed,
Uncaring of humans sorrowful hearts,
Uncaring of citadels of ruin.

Sad footsteps of vicissitude,
On the aged melancholic pebbles,
The grass shown brightly like once the silhouette of a beauty,
And in the limpid water of the ancient lakes,
The palace still echoed sound of the sitar

By Gentle finger of the Empress played,
Scent of the sandalwood diffused,
O!
Ancient king, in ecstasy he must have been! …

Oh, once upon a time…
Once upon a time!
Farewell and goodbye…

I enter the present…
A stream of rain filled my heart inside.