Excerpt from The Charnel Rose: Senlin a Biography, and Other Poems His Dark Origins Senlin sits before us, and we see him... He smokes his pipe before us, and we hear him... Is he small, with reddish hair, Does he light his pipe with a meditative stare, And a pointed flame reflected in both eyes? Is he sad and happy and foolish and wise?... Did no one see him enter the doors of the city, Looking about him at roofs and trees and skies?... I stepped from a cloud, he says, as evening fell, I walked on the sound of a bell; I ran with winged heels along a gust; Or is it true that I laughed and sprang from the dust?... Has no one, in a great autumnal forest, When the wind bares the trees with mournful tone, Heard the sad horn of Senlin slowly blown?... Has no one, on a mountain in the spring, Heard Senlin sing? About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.