Xuanxue

It would be, it seems to me,
Typical of this
World that Wang Bi, with such depth
Of perception into depth,

Would be dead by twenty-three.
There’s no mercy for insight
Into nothingness,

The nameless, the one,
Wuming, Dao, the li.
He read the Book of Changes
For pure conversation, not

Idle augury.
He needed to be punished
As an ordinary beast.

It would be, it seems to me,
Typical of this
World that Wang Bi would be dead
And buried by twenty-three.