The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng: Never Let Your Aspiration Fall
Grandevity Studio sets Wang Bo’s Tang-dynasty masterpiece The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng to newly composed music. The sung text uses 100% of Wang Bo’s original classical Chinese, in its original order, with no modern lyrical expansion, rewriting, added lyrics or repeated lines. Premium Cinematic Mandopop Soul and refined Chinese-inspired R&B meet guqin, xiao, Rhodes, nylon guitar, neo-soul bass, pipa and cinematic strings, moving from autumn splendour and the famous sunset over Tengwang Pavilion to frustration, fate and the enduring resolve never to let one’s aspiration fall.
Some works begin with a place.
By the end, they have become an entire philosophy of life.
落霞與孤鶩齊飛， 秋水共長天一色。
Sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly together; autumn waters merge with the endless sky.
For generations, these have been the most famous lines associated with Wang Bo’s The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng.
They contain a complete visual world:
sunset,
a single bird,
autumn water,
and a sky whose boundary disappears into the river.
But the enduring force of the work does not lie in scenery alone.
It also speaks of being lost.
Of talent meeting uncertain fate.
Of ambition without an open road.
And of a young man who, after acknowledging all of this, still declares:
窮且益堅，不墜青雲之志。
Even in adversity, one grows more steadfast, never letting the aspiration toward the blue clouds fall.
Grandevity Studio’s The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng sets Wang Bo’s complete original text to newly composed music.
There is no modern lyrical expansion.
No paraphrased rewrite.
No newly invented chorus.
No added words.
No repeated original lines used to extend the song.
The music moves once through the text, from:
豫章故郡，洪都新府。
to:
請灑潘江，各傾陸海云爾。
Hongzhou → distinguished guests → the ninth month
the high pavilion → river and sky → sunset
the banquet → the infinite universe → the lost traveller
fate → self-knowledge → aspiration
personal confession → recognition → farewell
The prose itself becomes the musical architecture.
Watch the MV: 🎬 The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng | Official Music Video
Headphones recommended. Begin beside the river in an imagined early-Tang Hongzhou, follow Wang Bo into the Pavilion of Prince Teng and a gathering of distinguished guests, rise into the autumn panorama of sunset, water and sky, then move through the sudden turn from splendour toward frustrated fate, self-reflection and the resolve never to let aspiration fall.
From Tengwang Pavilion to a Literary Masterpiece
The Pavilion of Prince Teng takes its name from Li Yuanying, Prince Teng, a son of Emperor Gaozu, founder of the Tang dynasty.
Li Yuanying once served in Hongzhou, the region associated with present-day Nanchang in Jiangxi.
The pavilion became one of the great literary landmarks associated with southern China.
Wang Bo belongs to the generation remembered as the Four Paragons of the Early Tang, together with Yang Jiong, Lu Zhaolin and Luo Binwang.
The work is commonly known as 《滕王閣序》, The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng.
A frequently transmitted fuller title is 《秋日登洪府滕王閣餞別序》, referring to an autumn farewell gathering at the pavilion.
Yet Wang Bo does far more than record a banquet.
He writes geography.
History.
Landscape.
Distinguished people.
Literary memory.
Fate.
And finally himself.
“豫章故郡，洪都新府”: Placing a City Within a Vast World
The work opens without hesitation:
豫章故郡，洪都新府。 星分翼軫，地接衡廬。
Hongzhou is immediately given historical, geographical and cosmological scale.
Then Wang Bo expands the field:
襟三江而帶五湖， 控蠻荊而引甌越。
The city is not an isolated point.
It stands within a network of waterways, regions and cultural movement.
Then:
物華天寶， 龍光射牛斗之墟；
人傑地靈， 徐孺下陳蕃之榻。
The splendour of the land and the distinction of its people answer one another.
Before Wang Bo ever reaches the autumn view from the pavilion, Hongzhou has already become a cultural world.
Distinguished Guests Fill the Pavilion
The prose then turns toward the gathering:
雄州霧列，俊彩星馳。
勝友如雲。
高朋滿座。
Phrases now familiar as idioms originally belong to a vivid social scene.
Officials.
Scholars.
Military figures.
Travellers.
Guests from afar.
The pavilion fills with rank and talent.
Wang Bo then reduces himself almost playfully:
童子何知？ 躬逢勝餞。
What could a young man like me know?
I merely happen to be present at this magnificent farewell.
The modesty creates a striking contrast with the verbal power that follows.
“時維九月，序屬三秋”: When the Prose Becomes a Moving Image
Then the people temporarily recede.
Autumn enters.
潦水盡而寒潭清， 煙光凝而暮山紫。
The seasonal waters withdraw.
The cold pools become clear.
Mist gathers.
Distant mountains turn purple in evening light.
The gaze rises:
層臺聳翠，上出重霄； 飛閣流丹，下臨無地。
Then descends:
鶴汀鳧渚， 窮島嶼之縈迴。
Then moves outward across plain, water, city and boats.
The prose behaves almost like a camera:
near,
far,
upward,
downward,
across architecture,
sandbars,
rooftops,
ships,
river,
sky.
Then the clouds clear.
“Sunset Clouds and a Lone Wild Duck Fly Together”
雲銷雨霽，彩徹區明。
The atmosphere clears.
Light fills the world.
Then:
落霞與孤鶩齊飛， 秋水共長天一色。
The first line moves.
The sunset extends.
The bird crosses the sky.
The second line almost becomes still.
Autumn water reaches toward the horizon until water and sky lose their boundary.
Movement and stillness.
Sky and water.
Nearness and infinity.
This becomes the first great visual and musical summit of the project.
Wang Bo does not need to dominate the frame.
The landscape itself has become the protagonist.
“興盡悲來”: Four Words Change the Entire Work
If the piece ended with sunset and autumn water, it would already be one of the great landscape passages of Chinese literature.
But the defining turn comes with only four words:
興盡悲來。
Joy reaches its end, and sorrow comes.
Just before this, everything appears complete:
四美具，二難並。
A fine time.
A beautiful scene.
Pleasure.
Delight.
A worthy host.
Distinguished guests.
Yet at the height of abundance, Wang Bo suddenly sees limitation:
天高地迥，覺宇宙之無窮； 興盡悲來，識盈虛之有數。
Heaven is high.
Earth is vast.
The universe seems endless.
Human opportunity is not.
The banquet will end.
Circumstances rise and fall.
Then:
關山難越，誰悲失路之人； 萍水相逢，盡是他鄉之客。
The “lost traveller” is no longer merely someone unable to cross a mountain pass.
It is a person who cannot yet find the road through life.
“馮唐易老，李廣難封”: Talent and Fate Do Not Always Agree
Then comes:
嗟乎！
Alas.
Wang Bo turns toward historical examples:
馮唐易老，李廣難封。
Feng Tang grew old before opportunity arrived.
Li Guang possessed military distinction yet struggled to receive the recognition he sought.
Wang Bo continues with Jia Yi and Liang Hong.
The shared question is clear:
Why does ability not guarantee opportunity?
Why can talent remain frustrated even in a prosperous age?
Yet Wang Bo refuses to remain within resentment.
He turns instead toward:
所賴君子安貧， 達人知命。
The world may impose circumstances.
A person must still decide what kind of person to become within them.
“Never Let the Aspiration Toward the Blue Clouds Fall”
Then comes the work’s deepest emotional summit:
老當益壯， 寧移白首之心；
窮且益堅， 不墜青雲之志。
Adversity does not have to erase direction.
Difficulty does not have to collapse aspiration.
Wang Bo continues:
北海雖賒，扶搖可接； 東隅已逝，桑榆非晚。
Even if the Northern Sea is distant, the soaring wind may still carry one there.
Though the morning has passed, evening is not too late.
If the sunset and autumn waters form the visual summit of the work,
this is its spiritual summit.
“勃，三尺微命，一介書生”: Suddenly, Only Wang Bo Remains
After writing of heaven, geography, history and fate, Wang Bo finally writes his own name:
勃，三尺微命，一介書生。
The scale contracts immediately.
The universe becomes one young man.
He continues:
無路請纓，等終軍之弱冠； 有懷投筆，慕宗慤之長風。
There is no clear road by which he can offer himself for service.
Yet he carries the ambition to act.
The earlier references to the lost traveller are no longer abstract.
Wang Bo has been speaking about himself as well.
“鍾期既遇，奏流水以何慚”: The Fortune of Being Understood
Near the end, Wang Bo turns toward recognition:
楊意不逢， 撫凌雲而自惜；
鍾期既遇， 奏流水以何慚？
Without meeting someone who recognises one’s talent, one may be left to cherish one’s work alone.
But if a true listener has been encountered, why should one be ashamed to perform the music of flowing water?
The world has not suddenly become easy.
Yet being recognised, even briefly, matters.
For this reason, the later movement of the music and MV becomes warmer again.
“勝地不常，盛筵難再”: Every Gathering Ends
Then comes the final farewell:
嗚呼！ 勝地不常，盛筵難再。
Beautiful places do not remain ours forever.
Magnificent gatherings are difficult to repeat.
Wang Bo remembers earlier gatherings already lost:
蘭亭已矣，梓澤丘墟。
The Orchid Pavilion gathering is gone.
Golden Valley has become ruins.
The present banquet will also pass.
What remains?
Words.
Wang Bo offers his preface, then turns the literary stage back toward the assembled guests:
請灑潘江， 各傾陸海云爾。
The essay that began with a city beneath the stars ends among writers at a table.
Music: Two Different Climaxes
The musical foundation is Premium Cinematic Mandopop Soul / refined Chinese-inspired R&B / Cinematic Guofeng.
Tempo: 70 BPM.
Meter: slow-burning 6/8.
Form: through-composed.
No sentence from Wang Bo’s original text is repeated.
The arrangement combines:
- guqin
- xiao
- Fender Rhodes
- nylon-string guitar
- neo-soul bass
- brushed drums
- subtle hand percussion
- pipa
- cinematic strings
The opening remains dignified and spacious.
The ninth-month landscape gradually brightens.
At:
落霞與孤鶩齊飛， 秋水共長天一色。
the arrangement reaches its first luminous, visual summit.
Then:
興盡悲來。
The harmony darkens.
Rhythm withdraws.
At:
嗟乎！
the texture falls almost to silence.
From there the 6/8 pulse returns and the harmony rises toward:
老當益壯，寧移白首之心； 窮且益堅，不墜青雲之志。
This is not simply a louder climax.
It is the deeper emotional summit.
At:
勃，三尺微命，一介書生。
the arrangement contracts again.
The ending then turns toward farewell:
勝地不常，盛筵難再。
Beauty becomes memory.
The MV: From Morning Mist to the End of the Banquet
The MV follows the changing light of a single day.
Morning.
Mist over Hongzhou.
Still river water.
Wang Bo approaches the pavilion.
Guests arrive.
Autumn light strengthens.
At “sunset clouds and a lone wild duck,” the landscape reaches its most radiant moment.
Then the sun descends.
The banquet continues, but the emotional temperature cools.
After “Alas,” night truly enters the pavilion.
Historically inspired oil lighting replaces daylight.
Wang Bo becomes increasingly isolated from the crowd.
During the autobiographical movement, the camera moves toward manuscript, brush, scroll and face.
Eventually the banquet disperses.
The long table empties.
Lamps diminish.
Wang Bo departs.
The pavilion remains.
The river continues.
📜 Complete Lyrics / Original Text with English Translation
Wang Bo, The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng
Complete original classical text set to music
No lyrical expansion, rewriting, added lyrics or repeated original lines
【Hongzhou・A Land of Distinguished People】
豫章故郡，洪都新府。
Yuzhang was the old commandery; Hongdu is the new prefecture.
星分翼軫，地接衡廬。
Its stars lie beneath the divisions of Yi and Zhen; its lands adjoin Heng and Lu.
襟三江而帶五湖，控蠻荊而引甌越。
It clasps the Three Rivers and girdles the Five Lakes, commanding Jing and linking the regions of Ouyue.
物華天寶，龍光射牛斗之墟；
The splendour of its products seems endowed by Heaven; the radiance of the dragon sword once shot toward the constellations Niu and Dou.
人傑地靈，徐孺下陳蕃之榻。
Its people are outstanding and its land spiritually favoured; for Xu Ruzi, Chen Fan once lowered a special couch.
【Distinguished Guests・A Magnificent Farewell】
雄州霧列，俊彩星馳。
Great prefectures stand arrayed like mist; brilliant talents speed together like stars.
臺隍枕夷夏之交，賓主盡東南之美。
Its walls lie at the meeting of inner and outer regions, and host and guests gather the finest talent of the southeast.
都督閻公之雅望，棨戟遙臨；
Governor Yan, honoured for his refined reputation, has come from afar with ceremonial insignia.
宇文新州之懿範，襜帷暫駐。
The distinguished Yuwen of Xinzhou has paused here with his official carriage.
十旬休假，勝友如雲。
During this season of rest, excellent friends gather like clouds.
千里逢迎，高朋滿座。
Guests are welcomed from a thousand li away; eminent friends fill every seat.
騰蛟起鳳，孟學士之詞宗；
Like soaring dragons and rising phoenixes are the writings of Scholar Meng, master of literary expression.
紫電青霜，王將軍之武庫。
Purple Lightning and Green Frost seem gathered in General Wang’s armoury.
家君作宰，路出名區。
My father serves as a magistrate, and my journey happens to pass through this famous region.
童子何知？躬逢勝餞。
What could a young man like me know? I merely have the fortune to attend this magnificent farewell.
【Late Autumn・Sunset and Endless Sky】
時維九月，序屬三秋。
It is the ninth month, the season of late autumn.
潦水盡而寒潭清，煙光凝而暮山紫。
The seasonal waters have receded and the cold pools are clear; misty light gathers as the evening mountains turn purple.
儼驂騑於上路，訪風景於崇阿。
Our horses proceed along the high road as we seek the scenery among lofty slopes.
臨帝子之長洲，得天人之舊館。
We reach the long sandbar of the prince and find the old pavilion associated with that noble figure.
層臺聳翠，上出重霄；
Tiered terraces rise in green splendour, piercing the highest clouds;
飛閣流丹，下臨無地。
flying pavilions glow with vermilion, seeming to hang above empty space.
鶴汀鳧渚，窮島嶼之縈迴；
Crane islets and wild-duck sandbars reveal the winding forms of the islands;
桂殿蘭宮，即崗巒之體勢。
cassia halls and orchid chambers follow the contours of the hills.
披繡闥，俯琱甍。
Opening the embroidered doors, we look down across carved rooftops.
山原曠其盈視，川澤紆其駭矚。
Mountains and plains spread wide before the eye; rivers and marshes wind in astonishing patterns.
閭閻撲地，鐘鳴鼎食之家；
Dwellings cover the ground, many belonging to families of wealth and rank;
舸艦彌津，青雀黃龍之舳。
ships crowd the crossings, their prows painted with blue birds and yellow dragons.
雲銷雨霽，彩徹區明。
The clouds disperse, the rain clears, and radiant colour fills the brightened world.
落霞與孤鶩齊飛，秋水共長天一色。
Sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly together; autumn waters merge with the endless sky.
漁舟唱晚，響窮彭蠡之濱；
Fishing boats sing at evening, their voices reaching the shores of Pengli;
鴈陣驚寒，聲斷衡陽之浦。
a formation of geese, startled by the cold, sends its cries toward the waters of Hengyang.
【The Banquet・When Joy Turns to Sorrow】
遙襟甫暢，逸興遄飛。
Our distant thoughts are suddenly released, and lofty inspiration rises swiftly.
爽籟發而清風生，纖歌凝而白雲遏。
Clear music sounds and seems to summon a fresh breeze; delicate songs linger as though holding back the white clouds.
睢園綠竹，氣凌彭澤之樽；
The green bamboo of Sui Garden would hardly surpass the spirit of Pengze’s wine cup;
鄴水朱華，光照臨川之筆。
the red blossoms by the waters of Ye shine with the brilliance of Linchuan’s literary brush.
四美具，二難並。
The four beauties are complete, and the two rare conditions are joined.
窮睇眄於中天，極娛遊於暇日。
We exhaust our gaze across the heavens and enjoy this day of leisure to the fullest.
天高地迥，覺宇宙之無窮；
The sky is high and the earth vast; one feels the universe to be without end.
興盡悲來，識盈虛之有數。
When delight is exhausted, sorrow comes, and one understands that fullness and emptiness follow their allotted measure.
望長安於日下，目吳會於雲間。
We look toward Chang’an beneath the sun and toward Wuhui beyond the clouds.
地勢極而南溟深，天柱高而北辰遠。
At the land’s extreme the southern sea is deep; the pillar of heaven is high and the northern star far away.
關山難越，誰悲失路之人；
Mountain passes are difficult to cross; who will pity the person who has lost his road?
萍水相逢，盡是他鄉之客。
Meeting like drifting duckweed upon water, we are all travellers in a foreign place.
懷帝閽而不見，奉宣室以何年？
I long for the imperial gate yet cannot see it; in what year might I be summoned to the Xuanshi Hall?
【Fate・The Aspiration Toward the Blue Clouds】
嗟乎！
Alas!
時運不齊，命塗多舛。
Fortune is uneven, and the road of fate is filled with reversals.
馮唐易老，李廣難封。
Feng Tang grew old too easily; Li Guang found recognition and enfeoffment difficult to obtain.
屈賈誼於長沙，非無聖主；
Jia Yi was sent to Changsha, though the age did not lack an enlightened ruler;
竄梁鴻於海曲，豈乏明時？
Liang Hong withdrew to the coast, though the world did not lack a prosperous age.
所賴君子安貧，達人知命。
What one may rely upon is that the noble person remains composed in hardship, while the wise understand fate.
老當益壯，寧移白首之心；
In old age one should become all the more vigorous; why should a white-haired heart change its resolve?
窮且益堅，不墜青雲之志。
In adversity one should become more steadfast, never letting the aspiration toward the blue clouds fall.
酌貪泉而覺爽，處涸轍以猶歡。
One may drink from the Spring of Greed and remain clear-minded; even in a dried rut, one may still preserve joy.
北海雖賒，扶搖可接；
Though the Northern Sea is distant, the soaring wind may still carry one there;
東隅已逝，桑榆非晚。
though the morning has passed, the evening is not too late.
孟嘗高潔，空餘報國之心；
Meng Chang was pure and upright, yet was left with only the desire to serve his country;
阮籍猖狂，豈效窮塗之哭？
Ruan Ji was unrestrained, but why imitate his weeping at the end of the road?
【A Young Scholar・Recognition at the Dragon Gate】
勃，三尺微命，一介書生，
I, Bo, hold only a minor station, nothing more than a solitary scholar.
無路請纓，等終軍之弱冠；
I have no road by which to request the tassel of service, though I am of the age at which Zhong Jun volunteered himself;
有懷投筆，慕宗慤之長風。
yet I harbour the ambition to cast aside the brush, admiring Zong Que’s desire to ride the long wind.
捨簪笏於百齡，奉晨昏於萬里。
I leave behind official insignia for the span of this life and travel ten thousand li to attend my father morning and evening.
非謝家之寶樹，接孟氏之芳鄰。
I am no treasured tree of the Xie family, yet I have had the good fortune to approach the worthy neighbours of the Meng household.
他日趨庭，叨陪鯉對；
On another day I shall hurry through my father’s courtyard and receive instruction as Kong Li once did;
今茲捧袂，喜託龍門。
today I raise my sleeves in greeting and rejoice to find myself entrusted to the Dragon Gate.
楊意不逢，撫凌雲而自惜；
Had Yang Deyi not been encountered, one might only stroke a “Lingyun” rhapsody and lament alone;
鍾期既遇，奏流水以何慚？
but having met a Zhong Ziqi, why be ashamed to perform “Flowing Water”?
【The Banquet Cannot Return・A Farewell Composition】
嗚呼！
Alas!
勝地不常，盛筵難再。
Beautiful places do not remain ours forever, and magnificent gatherings are difficult to repeat.
蘭亭已矣，梓澤丘墟。
The Orchid Pavilion gathering is gone; Golden Valley has become ruins.
臨別贈言，幸承恩於偉餞；
At parting I offer these words, grateful to receive the honour of this magnificent farewell;
登高作賦，是所望於群公。
to ascend and compose is what is expected of all the distinguished gentlemen present.
敢竭鄙誠，恭疏短引。
I dare to exhaust my humble sincerity and respectfully set down this short preface.
一言均賦，四韻俱成。
Each shall compose upon the assigned theme, with four rhymes completed.
請灑潘江，各傾陸海云爾。
May each pour forth a river like Pan Yue and empty an ocean of talent like Lu Ji.
From Sunset to Aspiration
If we read only the first half, The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng is an extraordinary autumn panorama.
If we read only the second half, it becomes a young man’s confession addressed to fate.
The complete work requires both.
Only after seeing:
秋水共長天一色。
autumn water becoming one with the sky,
do we fully sense human smallness.
Only after recognising:
識盈虛之有數。
that fullness and emptiness follow their measure,
can we understand the force of:
不墜青雲之志。
Never let the aspiration toward the blue clouds fall.
Wang Bo does not promise that life will be fair.
He does not promise that every road will open.
He offers something else:
even when the road disappears,
do not let the inner direction disappear with it.
💿 Credits
- Song Title: The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng
- Chinese Title: 滕王閣序
- Common Full Chinese Title: 秋日登洪府滕王閣餞別序
- Classical Source: Wang Bo, Tengwang Ge Xu
- Literary Period: Early Tang Dynasty
- Literary Form: Preface / parallel prose
- Original Text / Complete Sung Text: Wang Bo
- Lyrics Format: 100% original classical text with no modern lyrical expansion, rewriting, added lyrics or repeated original lines
- Lyric Order: Strictly follows the original prose from beginning to end
- Music Style: Premium Cinematic Mandopop Soul / refined Chinese-inspired R&B / Cinematic Guofeng
- Tempo / Meter: 70 BPM / slow-burning 6/8
- Composition / Arrangement: Suno AI / Grandevity Studio
- Vocals: Suno AI Mandarin male vocal
- Music Production: Grandevity Studio
- AI-Assisted Visuals: ChatGPT Images
- Video Editing / Art Direction / Creative Production: Grandevity Studio
- Released by: Grandevity Limited
- Production Year: 2026
- Official MV: https://youtu.be/aw-_TBmsNm8
- YouTube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kipFbJc48I31K27OmVI1H3Vpt5te2H0hk
Music Style and Mood:
Premium Cinematic Mandopop Soul / refined Chinese-inspired R&B / Cinematic Guofeng. At 70 BPM in a slow-burning 6/8, the through-composed arrangement carries Wang Bo’s complete text without repeating a single lyric line. It begins with the dignity and spatial grandeur of Hongzhou, brightens through the ninth month and late-autumn landscape, and reaches its first luminous summit at “Sunset clouds and a lone wild duck fly together; autumn waters merge with the endless sky.” The harmony then darkens through “joy reaches its end and sorrow comes,” falls almost to silence at “Alas!”, and rises toward the work’s deeper emotional summit: “Even in adversity, one grows more steadfast, never letting the aspiration toward the blue clouds fall.” The music resets intimately at “I, Bo, hold only a minor station,” before ending in a bittersweet farewell with “Beautiful places do not last; magnificent gatherings are difficult to repeat.”
⚖️ Copyright Notice
Wang Bo’s classical prose text The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng is in the public domain.
The sung text in this musical work is drawn entirely from Wang Bo’s original classical Chinese text. No modern lyrical expansion, paraphrase, added lyrics or newly written lyrical passages have been introduced.
The music production, sound recording, arrangement, mixing, mastering, MV visuals, cover artwork, video editing, subtitles, storyboarding, art direction, promotional copy and overall creative production were created by or lawfully produced for Grandevity Limited / Grandevity Studio. Relevant rights are retained and administered in accordance with applicable law and the terms governing the production platforms used.
Unauthorized re-uploading, redistribution, reproduction, editing, sampling, commercial use, platform distribution, AI training, dataset use, remixing, or incorporation into another audiovisual work is prohibited except where otherwise permitted by applicable law or license.
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About This Project
The Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng is part of Grandevity Studio’s Classical Literature Reimagined in Music series.
The purpose is not to replace Wang Bo’s words.
It is to let those words become sound again.
Autumn water again.
Sunset again.
Wind across a high pavilion again.
The loneliness of a lost traveller again.
And finally:
窮且益堅，不墜青雲之志。
Even in adversity, one grows more steadfast, never letting the aspiration toward the blue clouds fall.
More than thirteen centuries have passed.
We no longer stand at the same banquet.
We do not look across exactly the same river.
But we still encounter roads that seem closed.
Moments when ability is not recognised.
Times when circumstance arrives before opportunity.
Wang Bo never promises that every road will open.
He leaves us something else:
even when the road disappears,
do not let the aspiration disappear with it.