Let your rapidity be that of the wind,
The simile is doubly appropriate, because the wind is not only
swift but, as Mei Yao-ch‘ên points out, 無形跡 “invisible and
leaves no tracks.”
your compactness that of the forest.
It is hardly possible to take 徐 here in its ordinary sense of
“sedate,” as Tu Yu tries to do. Mêng Shih comes nearer the mark in
his note 緩行須有行列 “When slowly marching, order and ranks must be
preserved”—so as to guard against surprise attacks. But natural
forests do not grow in rows, whereas they do generally possess the
quality of density or compactness. I think then that Mei Yao-ch‘ên
uses the right adjective in saying 如林之森然.