To say a tree was moved from the moon is hyperbole, yet it feels exact: metaphors sometimes reveal provenance better than botany. Wang Guowei’s Remarks on Ci Poetry (1908) described poetic “realms” where the world either enters the self or the self enters the world; Yang’s osmanthus accomplishes both. The moon descends into the garden, and, in breathing its scent, the reader ascends. In this reciprocal motion, the poem shows what verse uniquely does—rooting wonder where we stand. [...]
