You and I Are as the Branches of One Tree

Do you not see
That you and I
Are as the branches of one tree?
With your rejoicing
Comes my laughter;
With your sadness
Start my tears
Love,
Could life be otherwise
With you and me?

- Tsu Yeh, Tsin dynasty, AD 265‑316. This beautiful translation is by Bruce Lee, who studied and loved poetry, and also wrote it.

About the Poet and Translator

Tsu Yeh (子夜) was a poet of the Tsin dynasty (AD 265–316). Her songs — known as Songs of the Night — are among the earliest surviving examples of Chinese lyric poetry rooted in everyday feeling and natural imagery. Bruce Lee, who translated this poem, drew deeply on Taoist and Zen philosophy throughout his life and writing, and his rendering carries that contemplative understanding into English.

On Separation as Illusion

This ancient Chinese poem speaks to the Taoist understanding that separation is illusion. When we see clearly, we recognize that joy and sorrow, self and other, flow through the same root. The branches may reach in different directions, but they draw from one source. In Zen practice, this recognition dissolves the boundary between compassion for another and compassion for oneself—they become the same gesture.