Author’s Note: Lady Wenji (Cai Yan) was a Chinese poet and musician born in the late Han dynasty.   Kidnapped at the age of seventeen, she became the wife of a barbarian chieftan.  “Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute: The Story of Lady Wenji,” is by an unidentified artist and is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Jerome Gagnon is the author of the award-winning collection, "Rumors of Wisdom," and a chapbook, "Spell of the Ordinary." His poems and haiku have appeared in journals such as Poet Lore, Spiritus, Modern Haiku, and Frogpond. A long-time student of Asian culture and arts, he recently completed a series of ekphrastic poems inspired by ancient Chinese and Japanese paintings. He lives in Northern California. 

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