"The faithful elite remained bound to the castle – for all their valor, reduced to ordinary grass. Tu Fu wrote:
The whole country devastated
only mountains and rivers remain.
In springtime, at the ruined castle,
the grass is always green.
We sat a while, our hats for a seat, seeing it all through tears.
Summer grasses:
all that remains of great soldiers’
imperial dreams."
–Matsuo Basho, “Narrow Road to the Interior”, translated by Sam Hamill.
