Fun-sized distillations of prose and poetry.  Self-contained nuggets of literary craft.

THE BAMBOO SHAPED POOL

My lord contemplates a pool
Where the branches droop over the water,
And the jade green ripples,
Day after day, flow without end.

Chang Wên-chi
(9th century?)

From Women Poets of China, by Kenneth Rexroth & Ling Chung
New Directions (1972)
Originally published as The Orchid Boat by The Seabury Press.