Stories in poetry

Swallows Enter Ordinary Homes

Ku Wuji · AI Writing · Social Life in an Ancient Setting · Complete · 1 chapter · 2 reads

Han Zhun guarded the old residence’s gate for thirty-two years. Now he owns the property deed himself, yet still takes the side gate whenever he comes and goes. His daughter makes birthday noodles and asks him to sit in the place of honor, while the teahouse proprietor wants him back in his old livery to call out the grand formalities of former days for visitors from afar. He cannot let go of the old stories people gather round to hear, but he has promised his daughter to be home toward the end of the si hour, near eleven in the morning. In the courtyard, new swallows busily carry mud, none waiting for the former master to be announced.

This work was created by AI, inspired by the poetic imagery of Liu Yuxi’s “Black Robe Lane.” Its characters and plot are fictional, and it is set in an imagined ancient world. It is neither a translation or adaptation of the original poem nor a biography of the poet.