Poem by Geng Wei in cursive script

The text on this scroll, titled Inscribed at Clear Springs Temple, is a poem by the Tang-dynasty poet Geng Wei (active mid- to late 8th century). Geng composed the poem during a visit to the estate of the recently deceased statesman and nature poet Wang Wei (ca. 701-761), who is the actual subject of the poem:

Blending Ruism, Moism, and the Holy Religion,
By the cloudy spring, he built his former hut;
But Meng Wall Cove is desolate now and still,
And Wheel Rim Creek just winds naturally away.
The inner teachings dissolved his many cares,
The western garden transformed his old abode;
In the deep chamber, spring bamboo grows old,
In the thin rain, the night bell seldom tolls.
His dusty tracks remain in the golden earth,
His writings are kept beside the Stone Canal;
Still I do not know which of his companions,
Has inherited the books of this Cai Yong.

Translation by Stephen D. Allee