Chin Wha.
Many inhabitants of To-wun were natives of Kang-nam. The following is a species of catch song which Chin Wha puts into the mouth of an old man of the Peach Garden. He is telling of the days of his youth “before King Chin si’s harsh reign.”
In far Kang-nam a thousand gardens bloom
With red hibiscus and pomegranate flowers.
Like stars embroidered on a silken loom
The jasmine blossoms fall in perfumed showers
Over the shining gardens of Kang-nam.
And I remember gateways of bamboo,
Yellow as mountain honey. Wise men said
The pigeons loved such gates. They always flew
More slowly there, with restful wings outspread
Above the yellow gateways of Kang-nam.
Yet even in Kang-nam, the taxes grow
A little heavier with the passing years.
Along each street the tax collectors go
Beating the doors with thongs, collecting—tears
And spittle from the merchants of Kang-nam.
How beautiful a place Kang-nam would be
If taxes were not there to trouble men!
In fact the thought has often come to me
That all the world might be a garden then,
Lovely as any garden in Kang-nam!