歸妹 → 履

Commentary

Thunder over lake shifts to heaven over lake: the maiden's ill-fated union becomes the solitary grief of Treading. A widowed lord, a husbandless woman, each sleeping alone in bitter solitude. Eyes strain open, ears ring with phantom sounds, but no one shares a word or a laugh. The verse captures abandonment in its most visceral form: the body itself protests the absence, producing hallucinations of presence where none exists. From the Marrying Maiden to Treading, the transformation is stark. Treading places a lake beneath heaven, the small and joyous walking carefully beneath the vast and powerful. Here, joy has vanished entirely, leaving only the precarious vulnerability of one who treads alone, with neither companion nor comfort to steady the step.