I’m here because you probably
never heard of me.

In a book that hosts a single
poem of mine

it is written I lived around 1070
and was born in the Sung
capital of Kaifeng
and was an official
in the provinces.

It also reads “I had a brief
moment of fame in
literary circles.”

The reason the moment
was brief is because
I didn’t care about worldly fame.
I knew it was fleeting and
eventually we all
fade into obscurity.

And though I wrote poems
all my life, I didn’t try to
gain public recognition
for any of them.

I knew that even if I
did gain mountains of
recognition and fame
those things never endure

I was more interested
in embracing the Tao
and achieving immortality.