Poem Written in Blood, Ghost in Ren Yansi’s House

In the house of Ren Yansi, administrator of Chang prefecture in Sichuan, there was a ghost that played music in the empty air then demanded food, which it ate completely up. This went on for about seven or eight years. One day, they didn’t hear its music, so they didn’t put out its banquet. Above the rafters of the reception hall it wrote a poem in blood. Yansi carved its characters into the wood with a knife.

All things change, becoming different—
This me here, they do not notice.
Fare thee well now, Ren Yansi:
We part today—I’m already gone.

血书诗
作者：任彦思家鬼
〈蜀昌州牧任彦思家有鬼，空中奏乐，索食，食之无遗，凡七八年。一日不闻乐声，置食无所飨，厅舍栿上血书一诗，彦思以刀刬之字已入木。〉
物类易迁变，
我行人不见。
珍重任彦思，
相别日已远。

And remember, always feed your brownie spirit entertainer or it’ll leave in a snit.

Written in blood, people. This stuff is the best.

---L.