Chin Wha. (Circa 1300 A.D.)
When the Emperor Chin si built the Great wall of China thousands of his subjects were forced into the labor. To avoid this many of them fled to Korea and established a community so happy that they did not wish intruders to enter and mar their peace. They planted a hedge of peach trees to keep out strangers. The place was named To-wun. From this the term “Peach Garden” came to be applied to any specially delectable spot and later became entangled in the legend of the Garden of the Western Queen Mother where immortals dwell.
Many centuries later Chin Wha, a man of deep learning but pessimistic temperament, turned from the disorder of his own day to look back to the peace of To-wun. Chin Wha’s dreams frequently led him into the realm of fantasy. He also had a somewhat dry turn of humor.
Wild peach trees are the walls. The frail sweet sound
Of tossing petals shuts the world away.
Streams that reflect the sunrise flash their light
Across the dawn. Stars amid blossom trees
Are all the lanterns midnight ever knows.
Dogs bark at floating clouds and chase the wind.
Men walk together there and sing the songs
We sang before our sacred books were burned.
They only count the passing of the clouds,
The changing of the season on the grass,
The falling petal and unfolding leaf.
They seek no further joy and know not tears.
Sometimes one comes from far, a wanderer
Through tangled grass and thorny wilderness
To taste the golden peaches. All too soon
The path is lost.
Recaptured by the world, Forever after such a wanderer strays
Through market place and courtyard all alone,[6]
Seeking an unattainable desire,
Scanning in vain the smoky eastern sky
Where flowers of heaven bloom beyond the world.