The jade's colors

'The jade's colors radiate, casting a luster on my face;
My subtle essences, purified, start to strengthen;
My material self melts and dissolves, frothing away,
And my spirit floats about, loose and free.'

'Anonymous, from the anthology The Songs of the South, gathered by Ch'u Yuan (340'-278 B.C.E.). As quoted in Chinese Religion: An Anthology of Sources, edited by Deborah Sommer, 1995.