Wang Wei (699–759), poet, musician, painter, and statesman, was one of the most famous men of the Tang dynasty. It was said that each of Wang Wei’s poems contained a painting and that each painting contained a poem. He was posthumously referred to as the “poet Buddha.”

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An iPoem

by Wang Wei, translated by Arthur Sze

Sir, you come from my native home
and should know the affairs there.
The day you left, beside the silk-paned window—
did the cold plum sprout flowers or not?

From The Silk Dragon