Poem by Han Yu in running-standard script

This leaf, along with three other leaves, were originally part of the same album. All four contain poems by famous poets of the Tang dynasty (618-907). Three of the poems describe landscape paintings, which seems to have been the main attraction for Bada Shanren. This fourth leaf, which is dated in accordance with December 8, 1697, contains a poem that addresses another of Bada's favorite themes, that of retirement from the mundane world in search of solitude and reclusion. The poem originally appears as part of the Preface to Seeing Off Li Yuan on His Return to Winding Valley, by the famous mid-Tang poet Han Yu (768-824), which Bada wrote out on a number of occasions:

Within the Winding lies your palace,
Above the Winding is where you till.
In the springs of Winding, one can wash and one can swim,
On the slopes of Winding, who is there to contest your place?
Hidden and deep, broad in its compass,
Twisting and turning, running off and coming back,
Ah, the joys of Winding, joys that never end!
Tigers and leopards keep away, dragons and krakens skulk and hide;
Ghosts and spirits keep and guard, and fend off any untoward harm.
So drink and eat, long life and good health,
Be lacking in nothing, in whatever you want;
I shall grease my cart, and fodder my horse,
And follow you to Winding, to spend my life in rambling.

(Translation by Stephen D. Allee)