Li Duan's music and lust
A poet projects and sublimates his desire
A Performance on the Zheng Harp
Li Duan
.
The music
of the zheng
Paulownia pegs, a bridge of jade
and long fingers
So white
.
She wanted
Lord Zhou
To look her way, so she grazed
the wrong strings
Once, twice
The zheng, now often called guzheng (the "gu" simply means ancient) is a large stringed instrument, with strings running over a bridge and pegs on a board.
Lord Zhou was Zhou Yu, a general during the Three Kingdoms period, who was also a master musician. He was known to have a very sharp ear, so even the slightest wrong note would catch his attention.
李端 听筝
鸣筝金粟柱，素手玉房前。
欲得周郎顾，时时误拂弦。