Presented to Zhang Ting, Zheng Kou

In 873, as (Zhang) Ting passed a garden field, he came across a gold cup with a jade band (depicting) withered trees and the Three Essences. He sought out the house of a Confucian scholar, Liu, who said this belonged to someone who died 20 years ago, County Scholar Zheng Kou. Kou ordered a brush and wrote a poem, which he bestowed to Ting. Ting looked back, but saw only a worn tomb.

Once I sang the wind and howled the man in the moon,
Now I sing the wind and howl myself in the moon.
A worn tomb by the road where song and howling ceased—
What do you know today? There’s still a troubled spirit.

赠张珽
作者：郑适
〈咸通末，珽过圃田，遇金杯、玉带、枯树三精。邀至一儒流家，云是二十年前死者郑适秀才也。适命笔写诗一首赠珽，珽回顾，惟见一坏冢。〉
昔为吟风啸月人，
今为吟风啸月身。
冢坏路边吟啸罢，
安知今日又劳神。

Just a little connective tissue missing from that headnote, yah, such as when the dead Kou showed up. The Three Essences, a Confucian term, are the Sun, Moon, and Stars. A County Scholar (literally “fine talent”) is someone who passed the county-level official exams. (Once someone passed those, he qualified to take the provincial-level exams and become a Provincial Scholar, which qualified him to take the imperial exams and become an Advanced Scholar.) I don’t get the significance of howling at people in the moon, assuming I’m even reading that correctly. Ambiguity to note: “sing/song” could be “moan” or “chant.”

---L.