'In Such Hard Times' by Red Pine/Bill Porter

"On this day of drink and depression / I think about life on our Tuling farm / where will I be on the Ninth of next year / in such hard times I can't hope to go home," wrote the poet Wei Ying-Wu in the year 756 AD. At the time he was only about 20, and his world was crashing down.

By Richard Rayner

July 19, 2009