death arrives. Further, there is no way to transcend such a change. Therefore, the Buddhist focuses on enjoying the substance life by easing the conscious thoughts of mortality with intoxication, “I hope you will take my advice: / When wine is offered, don’t refuse” (442). In Shadow to Substance II, we also see that all things of substance must come to an end. However, the poem takes a more Confucian perspective of spirit. Spirit is able to transcend substance in this poem, but in order to do so one must do good deeds as substance, “Do good, and your love will outlive you; / Surely this is worth your every effort” (443).
The Spirit’s Solution is acceptance and following the Way of Taoism. While the poem admits that substance cannot live forever, it also argues that what makes the substance so magnificent is the spirit it is loaned while substance, “Though we belong to different orders, / Being alive, I am joined to you” (443). By surrendering to the cycle of things and giving one’s self over to the Great Change, it is much easier to accept one’s time to go when it comes without “unnecessary fuss” (443).
The poem Fighting South of the Ramparts is a scathing indictment of war that leaves no ill
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