Presented to Deputy Duo, Liu Gai

Around 795, the magistrate of Hancheng, Liu Gai, died in office. His family was poor and before half a year had passed, they moved to a Buddhist temple in the countryside. After three days (there), Duo, his deputy at the time of his sudden death, said, “I met Gai, and asked about dark path things, but he did not speak. Then he presented me with a poem.”

The dark road’s deep, obscure, and people cannot know it—
I will not use the bitter words that give you people grief.
It’s fortunate I met you—tell my family this:
We’ll meet after in the boundless vast—but where and when?

赠窦丞
作者：刘溉
〈贞元中，韩城令刘溉卒官。家贫，侨寓县中佛寺，未半岁，其县丞窦暴死三日，云：“遇溉，问冥途事不语，久之，赠诗一首。”〉
冥路杳杳人不知，
不用苦说使人悲。
喜得逢君传家信，
后会茫茫何处期。

Liu Gai is specifically the head of the county-level government. Hancheng was and still is in Shaanxi. I assume Duo “met” Liu Gai in a dream, but that part of the story is nearly as obscure as the dark path. More trickiness: it was tempting to slightly mistranslate 人 as “mortals,” given the ghostly context, but “people” is both more accurate and feels more truthful.

---L.