250 Tang Quatrains in New English Translations
唐絕句250首新譯中英對照

In dreams apart, dimly I reach the house of Xie
Narrow corridors turn, angled railings slant
And sentimental, only a moon in the spring courtyard
As if for one who’s left, shines on fallen blossoms

子蘭 ZILAN

城上吟

古塚密於草
新墳侵官道
城外無閑地
城中人又老

Atop the City Wall

Old graves crowd like grass
New tombs invade the highway
Outside the city, no empty ground
Inside the city, people grow old

王駕 WANG JIA

春晴

雨前初見花開蕊
雨後兼無葉裏花
蛺蝶飛來過牆去
卻疑春色在鄰家

Spring Clearing

Before rain, I saw flowers starting to bloom
After rain, within the leaves they’re gone
Butterflies appear, over the wall leaving
Spring must be staying at my neighbor’s house

杜荀鶴 DU XUNHE

涇溪

涇溪石險人兢慎
終歲不聞傾覆人
卻是平流無石處
時時聞說有沉淪

Jing Inlets

Along Jing inlets dangerous rocks make folk cautious
At year’s end we haven’t heard of someone falling
But where the water flows level and there are no rocks
From time to time news comes of a drowning

釣叟

茅屋深灣裏
釣船橫竹門
經營衣食外
猶得弄兒孫

Old Fisherman

A thatch hut in a deep cove
Fishing boat across the bamboo gate
He manages beyond food and clothes
To raise a mischievous grandson

感寓

大海波濤淺
小人方寸深
海枯終見底
人死不知心

Motto

Great seas though turbulent are shallow
Small men’s heart is a truly deep hole
Seas dry up and their bottoms are seen
Men die and no one knows their thinking

旅舍遇雨

月華星彩坐來收
岳色江聲暗結愁
半夜燈前十年事
一時和雨到心頭

In a Lodge Meeting Rain

Moon’s splendor and stars’ radiance just now withdrew
Mountain gloom and the river’s sound darkly create sorrow
Midnight before the lamp, a decade’s memories
In a moment come with the rain, piercing my heart again

韓偓 HAN WO

已涼

碧闌干外繡簾垂
猩色屏風畫折枝
八尺龍鬚方錦褥
已涼天氣未寒時

Cool Weather

Blue balcony hung with embroidered drapes
Vermilion screens painted bent branches
Eight-foot dragon-beard mat and brocade quilt
And cool weather, before the cold has arrived

Notes

Dragon-beard - a kind of grass, used in weaving.

醉著

萬里清江萬里天
一村桑柘一村煙
漁翁醉著無人喚
過午醒來雪滿船

Drunk

Countless miles clear river, countless miles sky
One village of mulberry, one village of mists
No one hails the drunk old fisherman
Past noon waking to a snow-covered boat

司空圖 SIKONG TU

牛頭寺

終南最佳處
禪誦出青霄
群木澄幽寂
疏煙泛泬寥

Oxhead Temple

Zhongnan, most wonderful place
Where monks’ chants emerge into the dark sky
Groves of trees filter quiet gloom
A thin mist floats in the clear void

韋莊 WEI ZHUANG

登咸陽縣樓望雨

亂雲如獸出山前
細雨和風滿渭川
盡日空濛無所見
雁行斜去字聯聯

On a Tower in Xianyang District Watching the Rain

Jumbled clouds like beasts exit mountains ahead
Fine rains turning in wind envelope Wei River
The whole day empty blurriness, nothing seen
Only lines of geese slant away, ciphers unending

Notes

Xianyang was the capital of Qin, burned down in 206 BCE, and later a district of the Han. Ciphers or words alludes to the Qin’s unprecedented, costly and short-lived empire, which first standardized Chinese writing, among other things. The formation of geese in flight resembles the character 人 or person.

壺關道中作

處處兵戈路不通
卻從山北去江東
黃昏欲到壺關寨
匹馬寒嘶野草中

Written on the Road to Hu Gate

Fighters everywhere – highways are blocked
So I take northern hills to reach the River’s east
By evening I’ve almost reached Hu Gate Garrison
The horse whinnies cold among wild plants

搖落

搖落秋天酒易醒
凄凄長似別離情
黃昏倚柱不歸去
腸斷綠荷風雨聲

Desolate

Desolate fall days make drunk men sober
Freezing cold, constant as separation’s sorrow
In twilight I lean on a column, not leaving to go back
The heart breaks – on green lotuses, wind and rain sound

獨鶴

夕陽灘上立徘徊
紅蓼風前雪翅開
應為不知棲宿處
幾回飛去又飛來

Lone Goose

In the sunset, on the sandbar, it stands ill at ease
Red knotweed windblown, snowy wings spread
As if not knowing where to perch or roost
Several times it flies away and again flies back

送日本國僧敬龍歸

扶桑已在渺茫中
家在扶桑東更東
此去與師誰共到
一船明月一帆風

Farewell to the Japanese Monk Jinglong Going Home

Fusang rises already in distant obscurity
Your home lies east of Fusang, farther east
This time, who will accompany you back
Only a ship of bright moonlight, a sail of gusts

Notes

Fusang – the Great Mulberry or cosmic tree, from which the sun rises.

臺城

江雨霏霏江草齊
六朝如夢鳥空啼
無情最是臺城柳
依舊煙籠十里堤

Taicheng

River rain falling thick, river grass bending down
Six Dynasties like a dream, a bird emptily singing
Indifferent most are the willows of Taicheng
As ever a mist shrouding ten miles of the bank

Notes

Taicheng (Palace or Terrace City) was the political center of Eastern Jin and several other southern dynasties, ending with the Chen Dynasty in the 6th century. It is in modern day Nanjing.

羅隱 LUO YIN

雪

盡道豐年瑞
豐年事若何
長安有貧者
為瑞不宜多

Snow

Everyone says it omens a good year
A good year, I don’t see how
Chang’an has many poor folks
Few of whom suspect such good omen

西施

家國興亡自有時
吳人何苦怨西施
西施若解傾吳國
越國亡來又是誰

Xi Shi

Clans and states decline in their own time
The people of Wu needn’t resent Xi Shi
If Xi Shi toppled Wu Kingdom
Who was the cause of Yue’s demise

Notes

Xi Shi was a famous ancient beauty. It was said that, during the Spring and Autumn period, after Yue gifted Xi Shi to Wu, the king of Wu was so besotted with her that he let state affairs run to seed, leading to Wu’s defeat by Yue. Over a century later, Yue was in turn defeated by Chu, with no famous beauties involved. The poem of course has another, more recent beauty in mind – Yang Guifei, who came to be widely reviled as the cause of Xuanzong’s besotment and, consequently, An Lushan’s rebellion.

貫休 GUANXIU

月夕

霜月夜徘徊
樓中羌笛催
曉風吹不盡
江上落殘梅

Moonlight Twilight

Frost, moonlight, and night restless
From the tower, a native flute urges me on
While dawn wind endlessly blows
On the river plum blossoms sparsely are falling

樵叟

樵父貌飢帶塵土
自言一生暑寒苦
擔頭擔個赤瓷罌
斜陽獨立濛籠塢

Old Woodcutter

The woodcutter, gaunt and covered in dirt
Says he has always suffered cold and heat
Carries on his head a red ceramic jug
At evening stands alone in a rain-caged hut

陸龜蒙 LU GUIMENG

雁

南北路何長
中間萬弋張
不知煙霧裏
幾隻到衡陽

Wild Geese

South to north the way is long
In between countless arrows take aim
Nobody knows, through mist and fog
How many odd ones arrive in Hengyang

李頻 LI BIN

渡漢江

嶺外音書絕
經冬復立春
近鄉情更怯
不敢問來人

Crossing the Han River

Beyond the range, news went silent
Winter passed and again it was spring
Near my hometown, I grow timid
Not daring to ask a person that comes my way

李商隱 LI SHANGYIN

憶梅

定定住天涯
依依向物華
寒梅最堪恨
常作去年花

Thinking of Plum Blossoms

Stranded at world’s end
Often I think on life’s beautiful things
Cold plum trees know most heartbreak
That still make last year’s blossoms

Notes

Plum trees start blooming in winter, before the lunar New Year, and go on blooming after, thus symbolizing constant and hardy virtue. The poem plays on a common trope, casting conventional virtue in a different light.

木蘭花

洞庭波冷曉侵雲
日日征帆送遠人
幾度木蘭舟上望
不知原是此花身

Magnolia

Grotto Court’s cold turbulence invades the skies at dawn
Day after day journeying sails take travelers far away
How many times have I gazed from the magnolia boat
Not knowing that I was first the body of this flower

Notes

The body of this flower – i.e. that I, too, am made of magnolia wood, a fine vessel for journeying and goodbyes.

日射

日射紗窗風撼扉
香羅拭手春事違
回廊四合掩寂寞
碧鸚鵡對紅薔薇

Sun Glares

Sun glares through gauze windows, wind rattles the door
She wipes her hands on scented silk, spring’s affairs gone wrong
Winding corridors on all sides are locked in silence
A green parrot looks out at red roses

花下醉

尋芳不覺醉流霞
倚樹沉眠日已斜
客散酒醒深夜後
更持紅燭賞殘花

Drunk Beneath Flowers

Seeking fragrance, unawares I drank streaming sun-glow
Leaned on a tree and fell asleep, when day was already declining
Companions dispersed – far into the night I sobered up
Keen to raise the torch and congratulate withered blossoms

Notes

An allegorical poem, as I take it. The garden of Tang poetry has blossomed and waned, but the poet, among seekers of new pos-sibilities, would like to acknowledge how much that it accomplished.

宿駱氏亭寄懷崔雍崔袞

竹塢無塵水檻清
相思迢遞隔重城
秋陰不散霜飛晚
留得枯荷聽雨聲

At Luo’s Inn Writing to Cui Yong and Cui Gun

Bamboo grove dustless, waterside balcony cool
I think of you, far away from the great city
Fall’s gloom gathers and frost flies in the evening
Let dry lotus leaves linger to hear the sound of rain

登樂遊原

向晚意不適
驅車登古原
夕陽無限好
只是近黃昏

Climbing Merriment Plateau

Late day I feel ill at ease
Drive my carriage up the old plateau
The evening sun is immeasurably fine
Except for nearing twilight

天涯

春日在天涯
天涯日又斜
鶯啼如有淚
為濕最高花

At World’s End

Spring day at world’s end
At world’s end, once more the sun slants
An oriole sings as if with tears
Wetting flowers on the highest bough

賈生

宣室求賢訪逐臣
賈生才調更無倫
可憐夜半虛前席
不問蒼生問鬼神

Master Jia

When the Palace, seeking worthies, asked of those exiled
Master Jia’s talent was found exceedingly rare
Alas, in vain did one advance his seat at midnight
Asking about gods and demons, not about the people

Notes

Jia Yi was an official of the Han. Emperor Wen recalled him to the capital, listened to his discourse on spiritual affairs, which ran incredibly long, and at midnight pulled his seat mat forward. The poem boldly revises the traditional view that Emperor Wen was an enlightened ruler who recognized Jia Yi’s usefulness.

隋宮(二)

乘興南遊不戒嚴
九重誰省諫書函
春風舉國裁宮錦
半作障泥半作帆

The Sui Palace

On a whim he journeyed south, without precautions
In that stronghold, who understood the letters of concern
Spring wind raised the country to cut palace brocades
Half making mud guards, half making sails

憶住一師

無事經年別遠公
帝城鍾曉憶西峰
爐烟消盡寒燈晦
童子開門雪滿松

Remembering a Monastic Teacher

Dull years have passed since I parted with Noble Yuan
In the Emperor’s city, an early bell reminds me of West Peak
The stove’s smoke now faded, the cold lamp dims
The boy opens the door to snow covered pines

Notes

Noble Yuan is an epithet of Huiyuan (334–416 CE), regarded as the founder of Pure Land Buddhism in China, here referring of course to another monk that the poet knew.

夜雨寄北

君問歸期未有期
巴山夜雨漲秋池
何當共剪西窗燭
卻話巴山夜雨時

Sent North in the Night Rain

You asked for my return date, I’ve yet no date
In the Ba Mountains night rains swell autumn pools
When shall we trim a candle together by the west window
Recall the time of night rains in the Ba Mountains

Notes

This poem is also, likely incorrectly, known as “Sent to My Wife in the Night Rain.” Since the poet doesn’t have an answer, the poem simply, disarmingly rephrases the original question.

滯雨

滯雨長安夜
殘燈獨客心
故鄉雲水地
歸夢不宜秋

Heavy Rain

Heavy rains in Chang’an at night
The dying lamp – a lone guest’s heart
My homeland in clouds and water sunk
Dreams of returning are improper this autumn

陳陶 CHEN TAO

隴西行

其二

誓掃匈奴不顧身
五千貂錦喪胡塵
可憐無定河邊骨
猶是春閨夢裡人

from Longxi Tunes

No. 2

Sworn to eradicate the Xiongnu, they forgot themselves
Five thousand in silk and sable fell in foreign dust
Pity those bones on Wuding River’s banks
Still living this spring in women’s dreams back home

Notes

Wuding (Unfixed) River in the Northwest was so called because of its shifting course. The river constituted fiercely contested boundaries in ancient times.

其三

隴戍三看塞草青
樓煩新替護羌兵
同來死者傷離別
一夜孤魂哭舊營

No. 3

Long encampment has thrice seen green grass
Qiang soldiers guard Lou Fan, new lord
Now bands of the dead, piteously departed, arrive
At night orphaned souls weep by the old garrison

方干 FANG GAN

君不來

遠路東西欲問誰
寒來無處寄寒衣
去時初種庭前樹
樹已勝巢人未歸

You Haven’t Returned

The distant road, east or west, whom do I ask
Come winter, I have no address to send warm clothes
When you left we’d just planted the tree in the front yard
Now birds nest in the tree, but you haven’t returned

將歸湖上留別陳宰

歸去春山逗晚晴
縈回樹石罅中行
明時不是無知己
自憶湖邊釣與耕

Parting with Chen Zai on the Lake before I Go Back

I leave while spring hills detain late sunlight
Turning among trees and rocks, then go on in the gap
In that future I will not lack a good friend
When I remember fishing and farming beside the lake

Notes

After failing the imperial exams many times, Fang Gan gave up seeking office to go home. He remained active, however, befriending many in the official and literary spheres, and in the end achieved renown as a recluse poet, i.e. one who isn’t a civil servant of some kind. His sweet and simple style contrasted with the fashions of the time.

杜牧 DU MU

山行

遠上寒山石徑斜
白雲生處有人家
停車坐愛楓林晚
霜葉紅於二月花

Mountain Journey

Far up the cold mountain a stony path slants
In white cloud country there’s human habitation
I stop the cart, admiring the maple forest this late
Frosty leaves redder than second month blossoms

將赴吳興登樂游原

清時有味是無能
閑愛孤雲靜愛僧
欲把一麾江海去
樂游原上望昭陵

Before Leaving for a Post in Wuxing I Climb Merriment Plateau

This peaceful time holds interest for one without talent
Admiring lone clouds in leisure, loving a monk’s silence
About to carry the banner over rivers and seas
On Merriment Plateau I gaze at the Bright Tomb

Notes

Bright Tomb – mausoleum of Taizong, founder of the Tang.

登樂遊原

長空澹澹孤鳥沒
萬古銷沉向此中
看取漢家何事業
五陵無樹起秋風

Climbing Merriment Plateau

Through eternal pale sky a lone bird plummets
Countless generations have come to ruin right here
Regard for example the Han’s accomplishments
Five tombs, treeless, where autumn winds rise

汴河阻凍

千里長河初凍時
玉珂瑗珮響參差
浮生恰似冰底水
日夜東流人不知

Bian River Blocked by Ice

A thousand miles, the great river begins to freeze
Like jade chimes and agate pendants come odd echoes
Our floating lives are just like the waters beneath this ice
Day and night flowing seaward without anyone knowing

過華清宮絕句三首

其一

長安回望繡成堆
山頂千門次第開
一騎紅塵妃子笑
無人知是荔枝來

Three Quatrains on Passing by Huaqing Palace

No. 1

From Chang’an, turn to view the embroidered scene
On the mountaintop, a thousand gates opening in rows
Single horseman raising red dust – the Consort lightly smiles
No one else knows that it’s lychees have arrived

其二

新豐綠樹起黃埃
數騎漁陽探使迴
霓裳一曲千峰上
舞破中原始下來

No. 2

On Jinfeng’s green trees yellow dust rises
Several horsemen, from Yuyang the inspectors return
“Rainbow Skirts” – one melody over a thousand peaks
The dance that shatters the central plains has started to descend

其三

萬國笙歌醉太平
倚天樓殿月分明
雲中亂拍祿山舞
風過重巒下笑聲

No. 3

Countless nations carousing, drunk on peace
Against the sky, the moon lights up the palace
In the clouds, frenzied clapping – Lushan dances
Winds cross mighty peaks, carrying down the sound of laughter

Notes

Innovative in being a dramatic whole, this series of quatrains presents, in fast cuts, scenes leading up to An Lushan’s rebellion. Huaqing was Xuanzong’s pleasure palace, incorporating the hot springs at Mount Li, not far from Chang’an. Years later, the setting and what transpired there became a favorite topic for poetic treatment. A “key” unlocks the meaning of each poem, as follows.

Poem 1: Yang Guifei was said to have loved lychees, an exotic fruit which the Emperor had transported from the South using emergency riders to keep them fresh. A gross and ominous abuse of imperial privilege.

Poem 2: When rumors spread about An Lushan’s intentions, Xuanzong sent investigators to Yuyang, An’s home base in the North, to see if he was amassing an army for rebellion. An was able to bribe the investigators off, however, who came back with false good news. The emperor partied on.

Poem 3: An was said to have been, despite his bulk, an expert at the “whirl,” a dance from Central Asia, with which he entertained and deceived the Emperor. The final appearance of An laughing and dancing in the clouds is truly ghastly.

金谷園

繁華事散逐香塵
流水無情草自春
日暮東風怨啼鳥
落花猶似墮樓人

Golden Valley Garden

Splendid affairs scatter, chasing fragrant dust
Water flows numbly, grasses make spring their own
At sunset east winds blow and birds make moan
And blossoms fall, like a figure from an upper room

Notes

The poem alludes to an episode in the 3rd century, when the site belonged to a wealthy man who had a concubine named Green Pearl. When a covetous general sent troops to seize Green Pearl, rather than be taken, the girl leaped to her death from an upper room.

江南春

千里鶯啼綠映紅
水村山郭酒旗風
南朝四百八十寺
多少樓臺煙雨中

South of the Yangtze in Spring

A thousand miles orioles sing, red glimmers in green
River villages, hillside ramparts, tavern banners fluttering
The Southern Dynasties’ four hundred eighty temples
Are how many towers, terraces still in the misty rain

赤壁懷古

折戟沉沙鐵未消
自將磨洗認前朝
東風不與周郎便
銅雀春深鎖二喬

Red Cliffs Remembrances

Broken halberd sunk in sand, iron not yet rusted away
Cleaning it off, I recognize the sign of a former kingdom
If the east wind had not favored Master Zhou
Tongque deep in spring would’ve locked up both the two Qiaos

Notes

At the famous battle at Red Cliffs (3rd cen.) that ushered in the Three Kingdoms period, the northern warlord Cao Cao’s fleet was set on fire (fanned by the east wind) and defeated by an alliance of the southern Shu and Wu states. The two Qiaos were famously beautiful sisters married to the Wu general Zhou Yu and his king. The last couplet says that, if Cao Cao hadn’t been defeated in fortuitous circumstances, then the Wu rulers’ women would’ve been captured and imprisoned deep inside one of his palaces. Historical remembrances or huaigu 懷古 are frequently quite complicated like this – but the poem capitalizes on the romance of Three Kingdoms lore, and part of the charm is that, faced with the relic of some fierce fighting, the poet remembers this tangent story about two beautiful women.

白鷺

霜衣雪花青玉嘴
群捕魚兒溪影中
驚飛遠映碧山去
一樹梨花落晚風

White Egrets

Frosty cloaks, snowy crests, dark jade beaks
Gather to catch fish in shadows on the stream
Startled, sparks fly, distant to green mountains
A tree’s worth of pear blossoms fall in the late wind

Notes

A poem harkening back to the ornate descriptive poetry of the southern courts that preceded the Tang. I’m reminded in particular of Wang Rong’s gorgeous “Ode to Pear Blossoms on a Pond”: On broken steps they cover the fine grass / In pooled water divide sparse duckweed / Fragrant spring shines with drifting snow / Late evening glimmers abundant stars.

清明

清明時節雨紛紛
路上行人欲斷魂
借問酒家何處有
牧童遙指杏花村

Clear-Bright

Clear-Bright and the weather’s only rain
A traveler on the road feels spirit-broken
Asked where there might be a tavern
The herdboy points to distant Xinghua Village

Notes

Clear-Bright or Qing-Ming, a solar term festival, falls on the 15th day after the spring equinox and marks a period of fair weather. Xinghua was renowned for its fine rice wine.

泊秦淮

煙籠寒水月籠沙
夜泊秦淮近酒家
商女不知亡國恨
隔江猶唱後庭花

Mooring on the Qinhuai

Mist covers the icy water, moonlight covers the sand
I’m mooring tonight on the Qinhuai near a tavern
The merchant girl, innocent of a lost kingdom’s grief
By the river is still singing “Rear Court Flowers”

Notes

“Rear Court Flowers” was a song composed by Chen Shubao, last emperor of the southern Chen dynasty, in praise of one of his concubines. Chen was said to have loved women and literature to excess, leading to his defeat by the Sui, who in turn was defeated by the Tang.

遣懷

落魄江湖載酒行
楚腰纖細掌中輕
十年一覺揚州夢
贏得青樓薄倖名

Confession

Dissolute, rivers and lakes I journeyed carrying wine
Southern girls’ slim waists danced lightly in my palms
Ten years... suddenly I woke from this Yangzhou dream
When they called me “heartless” in the blue houses

Notes

Blue houses – brothels.

念昔遊三首

其一

十載飄然繩檢外
樽前自獻自為酬
秋山春雨閒吟處
倚遍江南寺寺樓

Three Poems Remembering Past Wanderings

No. 1

Ten years I wandered beyond rules and bounds
For myself raising the wine cup, making toasts
Fall mountains and spring rains I sang in leisure
And clung to the south bank, seeing temple after temple

其二

雲門寺外逢猛雨
林黑山高雨腳長
曾奉郊宮為近侍
分明㩳㩳羽林槍

No. 2

Outside Yunmen Temple I ran into a storm
Dark forests, high mountains, long streaks of the rain
Once I served at Jiaogong as court attendant
And recall vividly the bristling forest of spears feathered

其三

李白題詩水西寺
古木回巖樓閣風
半醒半醉遊三日
紅白花開山雨中

No. 3

Li Bai wrote about it in a poem, that west-of-the-waters temple
Ancient trees edging cliffs, wind-filled halls and towers
Half sober, half drunk, I wandered there for three days
While flowers red and white opened in the mountain rain

Notes

Another wonderfully integrated, quietly haunting sequence. “Temple” and “rain” weave through the poems, while an encounter with royal power, led to by a terrible storm, constitutes the dramatic high-point that casts shadow on the poet’s dissolute wandering in the previous and following quatrains.

獨酌

窗外正風雪
擁爐開酒缸
何如釣船雨
篷底睡秋江

Drinking Alone

Outside the window, stiff wind and snow
I hug the furnace and tap a jug of wine
How like a fishing boat in rain
Glides down to sleep on the autumn river

醉眠

秋醪雨中熟
寒齋落葉中
幽人本多睡
更酌一樽空

Drunken Sleep

Autumn ale ripens in rain
Cold study amid falling leaves
The hermit, sleeping often
Pours more into an empty cup

朱慶餘 ZHU QINGYU

宮詞

寂寂花時閉院門
美人相並立瓊軒
含情欲說宮中事
鸚鵡前頭不敢言

Palace Song

Flowers bloom in silence behind closed garden gates
Beautiful ladies stand side by side on the jade veranda
Full of feelings, they would like to talk of affairs in the palace
But there’s a parrot before them and they dare not speak

李賀 LI HE

馬詩其五

大漠沙如雪
燕山月似鉤
何當金絡腦
快走踏清秋

Horse Poem No. 5

The great desert’s sand resembles snow
Yan Mountains’ moon appears a hook
When shall this head be bridled in gold
Fast hooves galloping through clear autumn

Notes

From a series of 23 poems.

莫種樹

園中莫種樹
種樹四時愁
獨睡南床月
今秋似去秋

Don’t Plant a Tree

Don’t plant a tree in the garden
Planting a tree brings four seasons of sorrow
One lies alone in a southern bed under the moon
This autumn like any past autumn

南園

其一

花枝草蔓眼中開
小白長紅越女腮
可憐日暮嫣香落
嫁與春風不用媒

from Southern Garden

No. 1

Flower branches, plant tendrils, open within the eye
Small whites, perpetual reds, like girls’ cheeks in Yue
Pity that evening lovely fragrance goes astray
To wed the spring wind without hiring a matchmaker

Notes

Yue girls were proverbially beautiful; Xi Shi, the renowned ancient beauty, was from Yue. Not to hire a matchmaker would’ve been unthinkable for any respectable young woman.

其六

尋章摘句老雕蟲
曉月當簾掛玉弓
不見年年遼海上
文章何處哭秋風

No. 6

Dissecting chapters and lines, my small talent grows old
Dawn moon in the window hangs up its jade-white bow
Never mind what goes on in Liaohai, year after year
Literature somewhere weeps autumn winds

Notes

Liaohai – i.e. Liaodong, a peninsula in the Northeast, where there had been many conflicts.

其八

春水初生乳燕飛
黃蜂小屋撲花歸
窗含遠色通書幌
魚擁香鉤近石磯

No. 8

Spring waters beginning to rise, young swallows fly
Brushing by flowers, bees to their small chambers return
Windows show distant scenery piercing bookish curtains
Fish shoal round fragrant hooks by the stone quay

代崔家送客

行盡柳煙下
馬蹄白翩翩
恐隨行處盡
何忍重揚鞭

In Cui’s Place Seeing off a Guest

Our travel’s ending under willow haze
The horses run in gusting white
I dread following to the place
How could he again raise the whip

將發

東床卷席罷
護落將行去
秋白遙遙空
日滿門前路

Ready to Depart

On the east bed the mat’s rolled up
One defenseless readies for the journey out
White autumn empty and endless
Before the gate, sunlight floods the road

張祜 ZHANG HU

贈內人

禁門宮樹月痕過
媚眼惟看宿鷺窠
斜拔玉釵燈影畔
剔開紅燄救飛蛾

To One in the Inner Palace

Moonlight above shows a tree by the forbidden gate
Lovely eyes see only egrets roosting in their nest
She pulls out her jade hairpins in the lamplight
And parts the red flame to rescue a moth

Notes

This poem on the stock theme of the neglected palace woman is rare in being addressed to its subject. Rescuing a helpless creature is an emblem of Buddhist enlightenment. The poem thus achieves a measure of serenity unusual for the genre, while still meeting the required degree of exquisite sorrow. She rescues the moth when she cannot rescue herself, and the roosting egrets are an image of what she may have had in another life.

題金陵渡

金陵津渡小山樓
一宿行人自可愁
潮落夜江斜月裡
兩三星火是瓜州

Jinling Ferry

In this inn on a little hill by Jinling Ferry
A traveler staying the night may indeed feel melancholy
The tide drops – on the night river in slanting moonlight
Two or three bright sparks – are fires in Guazhou

賈島 JIA DAO

尋隱者不遇

松下問童子
言師採藥去
只在此山中
雲深不知處

Looking for but Not Finding the Hermit

Under the pines I asked your boy
He said Teacher’s gone picking herbs
Only on the mountain here
But clouds are deep who knows where

口號

中夜勿自起
汲此百尺泉
林木含白露
星斗在青天

Slogan

In the night I start awake and get up
Cup water from the deep stream
The forest holds white fog
Stars dwell in the clear sky

宿村家亭子

床頭枕是溪中石
井底泉通竹下池
宿客未眠過夜半
獨聞山雨到來時

Overnight in a Country Pavilion

The pillow on my bed is a rock midstream
The well connects to its source, a pond beneath bamboo
The lodging guest, unable to sleep, past midnight
Alone hears when mountain rains arrive

題隱者居

雖有柴門長不關
片雲孤木伴身閑
猶嫌住久人知處
見擬移家更上山

On the Dwelling of a Hermit

Though there’s a wooden gate, it’s never shut
Wispy clouds, lone trees, befriend one in leisure
Still I fear that, with time, people will learn of this place
We’ll see him moving higher up the mountain

渡桑乾

客捨并州已十霜
歸心日夜憶咸陽
無端更渡桑乾水
卻望并州是故鄉

Crossing the Cangqian

A lodger had been in Bingzhou ten autumns
Determined day and night to think of Xianyang
One day accidentally crossing Cangqian’s waters
Looked back and saw Bingzhou, his homeland

題詩後

二句三年得
一吟雙淚流
知音如不賞
歸臥故山秋

Postscript

Two lines may take three years
That once sung make flow twin tears
Good friend, if you do not approve
I’ll go back and lie down in the old autumn hills

絕句

破卻千家作一池
不栽桃李種薔薇
薔薇花落秋風起
荊棘滿庭君始知

Quatrain

Tear down a thousand homes to dig one pond
Then plant primrose instead of peaches and plums
When primrose blossoms fall and autumn winds rise
Brambles cover the yard and you begin to understand

Notes

Jia Dao reputedly wrote this quatrain to critize the extravagant gardens of the powerful official Pei Du, who oversaw the imperial exams that the poet never passed. The peach and plum trees represent worthy but unfavored candidates. Without this context, the poem could be read as a comment on the exacting demands of poetry, as in the previous quatrain and for which Jia Dao was known, who pioneered the kuyin or painstaking composition style of poetry.

元稹 YUAN ZHEN

行宮

寥落古行宮
宮花寂寞紅
白頭宮女在
閒坐說玄宗

The Summer Palace

Faded now, the old summer palace
Palace flowers redden in silence
There, white-haired ladies dwell
Idly telling stories about Xuanzong

菊花

秋叢繞舍似陶家
遍繞籬邊日漸斜
不是花中偏愛菊
此花開盡更無花

Chrysanthemum

Fall clusters surround the house, like Tao Chien’s
All around, along the fence, sunlight gradually slants
It’s not that, among flowers, I like chrysanthemums best
But no more flowers remain after they’ve done blooming

聞白樂天左降江州司馬

殘燈無焰影憧憧
此夕聞君謫九江
垂死病中驚坐起
暗風吹雨入寒窗

Upon Hearing That Bai Letian Had Been Demoted To Be Sub-Prefect in Jiangzhou

The waning lamp, unbright, cast fitful shadows
Tonight I learned that you’d been demoted to Jiujiang
Near death with illness, startled, I sat right up
Dark winds blew rain into the cold window

酬樂天舟泊夜讀微之詩

知君暗泊西江岸
讀我閒詩欲到明
今夜通州還不睡
滿山風雨杜鵑聲

Answering Letian’s “Mooring at Night Reading Weizhi’s Poetry”

I hear that night mooring on West River
You had read my idle poetry almost until light
Tonight in Tongzhou it’s my turn to be awake
Cuckoos cry in the wind and rain through all the hills

Notes

Letian, Weizhi are Bai Juyi’s and Yuan Zhen’s courtesy names, respectively. In 815 Bai Juyi was demoted to Jiangzhou (or Jiujiang), in modern-day Jiangxi Province. Yuan Zhen had been in demotion in Tongzhou, in modern-day Jiangsu Province, since 810. This is a direct reply to Bai Juyi’s poem below.

柳宗元 LIU ZONGYUAN

重別夢得

二十年來萬事同
今朝歧路忽西東
皇思若許歸田去
晚歲當為鄰舍翁

Again Saying Goodbye to Mengde

For twenty years, countless things we shared equal
Today our paths suddenly are east and west
Suppose the Emperor granted us leave to go home
Later on this year we’d be nextdoor old neighbors

Notes

Mengde – Liu Yuxi’s courtesy name. In 805, Liu Zongyuan was demoted and sent to the backwaters, where scholars say his literary talent took flight. His quatrains in this collection, including the supremely famous poem below, record the poet’s intense grief and disappointment in his political exile.

江雪

千山鳥飛絕
萬徑人蹤滅
孤舟簑笠翁
獨釣寒江雪

River Snow

A thousand peaks bird flights cut off
Countless paths human tracks vanish
Lone boat: cape-and-hat old man
Fishes alone the cold river’s snow

與浩初上人同看山寄京華親故

海畔尖山似劍芒
秋來處處割愁腸
若為化作身千億
散向峰頭望故鄉

With the Monk Haochu Viewing Mountains: To My Loved Ones in the Capital

Sharp as sword-points, mountains border the lake
Autumn arrives, everywhere, lashing at my sorrowful heart
I want to be transformed into a myriad million selves
That scatter to all the peaks gazing home

雨晴至江渡

江雨初晴思遠步
日西獨向愚溪渡
渡頭水落村逕成
撩亂浮槎在高樹

Rains Cleared over the River Ferry

River rains had just cleared when I desired a long walk
With the westing sun, alone heading toward Yuxi Ferry
At the Ferry, the water receded, the village road appeared
Borne up in the turmoil, a raft hung in a high tree

崔護 CUI HU

題都城南莊

去年此日此門中
人面桃花相映紅
人面不知何處去
桃花依舊笑春風

Written in a Village South of the Capital

Last year, on this day, in this gate
A human figure with peach blossoms shared the warm light
Where that human figure went no one knows
Peach blossoms like before flirt with the east wind

Notes

Cui Hu has six poems recorded in the Complete Tang Poems (Qing Dynasty). This quatrain is associated during Tang times with a romantic story about the poet as a young scholar, and as such has found quite a life of its own. How wonderfully the first line conveys the sense of someone reliving a past event; and how cleverly the symmetrical construction of the first three lines creates (in the original) a closure on the word “gone” or “departed” that sets off the lonely yet cheery final image. Truly a charming poem!

白居易 BAI JUYI

問劉十九

綠螘新醅酒
紅泥小火爐
晚來天欲雪
能飲一杯無

Asking Liu Nineteen

Green lees in the new wine
Red coals in the small stove
Evening and it looks to snow
Should we drink a cup or no

舟中讀元九詩

把君詩卷燈前讀
詩盡燈殘天未明
眼痛滅燈揂闇坐
逆風吹浪打船聲

In a Boat Reading Yuan Nine’s Poetry

I hold your book of poems, reading before the lamp
Poetry ends, the lamp wanes, dawn hasn’t begun
Eyes tired, I put out the lamp and sit in the dark
North wind blows waves knocking against the boat

夜雪

已訝衾枕冷
復見窗户明
夜深知雪重
時聞折竹聲

Night Snow

Surprised the covers are ice-cold
I see windows brighten again
In deep night I know the snowfall is heavy
Hearing now the sound of bamboo breaking

冬日平泉路晚歸

山路難行日易斜
烟村霜樹欲棲鴉
夜歸不到應閑事
熱飲三杯即是家

Returning Late from Pingquan on a Winter Day

The mountain road’s hard going, daylight wanes
Crows land on frosted trees by a foggy hamlet
Never mind if I don’t make it by nightfall
Three warming cups and I’ll feel right at home

游雲居寺贈穆三十六地主

亂峰深處雲居路
共蹋花行獨惜春
勝地本來無定主
大都山屬愛山人

Visiting Yunju Temple: To Mu Thirty-Six, Landlord

Among jumbled peaks, in a remote place, clouds occupy the road
Tramping together through blossoms, each alone cherishes spring
Beautiful sites from the beginning lack clear owners
Mostly, mountains belong to lovers of mountains

大林寺桃花

人間四月芳菲盡
山寺桃花始盛開
長恨春歸無覓處
不知轉入此中來

Peach Blossoms at Dalin Temple

In the world of men, come May, spring fragrances end
But the mountain temple’s peaches only now fully bloom
I was mourning that spring, leaving, was nowhere to be found
Not realizing that spring, moving on, has come to this place

紅鸚鵡 (商山路逢)

安南遠進紅鸚鵡
色似桃花語似人
文章辯慧皆如此
籠檻何年出得身

The Red Parrot: Met on the Road to Shangshan

Annam faraway sends in tribute a red parrot
Plumage like peach blossoms, human-like in speech
In literature and disputation clever like so
Beyond the cage door, when will it make its escape

Notes

Annam, meaning “Pacified South,” was a name that the Tang gave to the empire’s southernmost province, in what is now Vietnam. Vietnamese commentators often interpret this poem as an expression of sympathy for Vietnam and a prediction of its independence some century later, when the Tang empire was considerably weakened.

劉禹錫 LIU YUXI

春詞

新妝宜面下朱樓
深鎖春光一院愁
行到中庭數花朵
蜻蜓飛上玉搔頭

Spring Song

Freshly made up, with regal mien, she descends the tower
Into a sad garden locking in spring’s brilliance
While she walks to the middle of the courtyard counting flowers
A dragonfly lands on her jade hairpin

秋詞二首

其一

自古逢秋悲寂寥
我言秋日勝春朝
晴空一鶴排雲上
便引詩情到碧霄

Two Songs for Autumn

No. 1

Of old autumn has meant sorrow, loneliness
I say that autumn days surpass spring mornings
A single crane rises above clouds in sunny air
Carries my inspiration into blue skies

其二

山明水淨夜來霜
數樹深紅山淺黃
試上高樓清入骨
豈如春色嗾人狂

No. 2

Hills bright, waters clear, and at night dew
A few trees, deep red in hills that are pale yellow
On a high tower, this clarity enters the bone
Nothing like spring’s scenery, driving men wild

玄都觀桃花

紫陌紅塵拂面來
無人不道看花迴
玄都觀裡桃千樹
盡是劉郎去後栽

Peach Blossoms at Xuandu Temple

Purple paths and red dust hitting their faces
Everyone says they’ve gone to see the flowers
At Xuandu Temple, a thousand peach trees
Each one planted since Mr. Liu went away

Notes

Written in 816 upon the poet’s return to the capital from a decade of demotion to the South. This quatrain jabs at the current crop of officials and those to fawn on them. Shortly after this, the poet was again demoted.

再遊玄都觀

百畝庭中半是苔
桃花淨盡菜花開
種桃道士歸何處
前度劉郎今又來

Visiting Xuandu Temple Again

The temple’s hundred acres – half nothing but moss
Peach blossoms all gone, vegetables bloom
The Daoist who planted peaches, where is he now
Mr. Liu of former days has made it here again

Notes

Written when the poet was back in Chang’an in the year 828. The Daoist is a reference to the former prime minister.

石頭城

山圍故國周遭在
潮打空城寂寞回
淮水東邊舊時月
夜深還過女牆來

Stonehead Citadel

Mountains guard the old state, on all sides standing firm
Waves batter the empty citadel, silently turning round
On Huai River’s eastern shore, the former-day moon
In deep night approaches, breaching her maiden walls

Notes

Maiden walls – crenelations or battlements.

竇鞏 DOU GONG

代鄰叟

年來七十罷耕桑
就暖支羸強下床
滿眼兒孫身外事
閑梳白髮對殘陽

Old Neighbor

This year, at seventy, he quits tilling the mulberry field
On a warm day, gaunt-limbed, struggles out of bed
Family crowd the view, but he’s beyond their affairs
Leisurely combing white hair, facing the dying light

張籍 ZHANG JI

秋思

洛陽城裡見秋風
欲作家書意萬重
覆恐匆匆說不盡
行人臨發又開封

Autumn Thoughts

Luoyang City witnesses autumn winds
To write a letter home, my thoughts are countless
Afraid that I haven’t said everything in the rush
When the traveler readies to leave, I open the envelope again

惜花

山中春已晚
處處見花稀
明日來應盡
林間宿不歸

For the Flowers

Spring has grown late on the mountain
Everywhere flowers are few
Tomorrow surely they’ll be gone
In the forest I stay and do not return

孟郊 MENG JIAO

怨詩

試妾與君淚
兩處滴池水
看取芙蓉花
今年為誰死

Grief Poem

Suppose we compared tears
Cried into separate ponds
We’d see lotus blossoms
This year dying on someone’s account

去婦

君心匣中鏡
一破不復全
妾心藕中絲
雖斷猶牽連

Abandoned Wife

Your love, a precious mirror
Once broken, never heals
My love, the silk in lotus pods
Though severed, tangles and holds

登科後

昔日齷齪不足誇
今朝放蕩思無涯
春風得意馬蹄疾
一日看盡長安花

After Passing the Exams

Yesterday’s difficulties aren’t to dwell on
Today I let go of worries that have no end
Spring wind suits me and my horse runs fast
In one day I will see all the flowers in Chang’an

洛橋晚望

天津橋下冰初結
洛陽陌上人行絕
榆柳蕭疏樓閣閑
月明直見嵩山雪

Luo Bridge, Evening View

Under Tianjin Bridge ice begins to form
On Luoyang roads human travels cease
Elms and willows threadbare, the inn quiet
In moonlight I see truly Song Mountain’s snow

歸信吟

淚墨灑為書
將寄萬里親
書去魂亦去
兀然空一身

Letter Home

Tear-ink I write into a letter
Sending to kin countless miles away
The letter departs, my soul also departs
This body into nothing stupefies

李益 LI YI

江南曲

嫁得瞿塘賈
朝朝誤妾期
早知潮有信
嫁與弄潮兒

South River Refrain

Since I married a merchant of Qutang
Day after day he has missed the date
Had I known how faithful the tide is
I’d have married a river boy

從軍北征

天山雪後海風寒
橫笛偏吹行路難
磧裏征人三十萬
一時回向月明看

Following the Army Marching North

Tianshan after snowfall, lake winds cold
A flute keenly blows our marching song
Desert soldiers, three hundred thousand
At once turn to look at the bright moon

夜上受降城聞笛

回樂峰前沙似雪
受降城外月如霜
不知何處吹蘆管
一夜征人盡望鄉

Night Hearing a Flute from the Walls of Shouxiang

Under Huiye Peak, sand resembling snow
Outside Shouxiang City, moonlight like frost
From I don’t know where, a reed flute plays
Making the soldiers homesick all night long

雍裕之 YONG YUZHI

農家望晴

嘗聞秦地西風雨
為問西風早晚回
白髮老翁如鶴立
麥場高處望雲開

Farmer Watching Clear Skies

One hears that, in Qin, the west wind brings rain
Then asks, the west wind, when will it return
A white-haired old man like an egret stands
On a high spot afield, watching the skies clear

陳羽 CHEN YU

從軍行

海畔風吹凍泥裂
枯桐葉落枝梢折
橫笛聞聲不見人
紅旗直上天山雪

Song to Follow the Troops

Round the lake winds blow, mud frozen cracks
Dry wutong lose leaves, branch ends snapped
The sound of a flute is heard, but you see no one
Red flags rise straight into Tianshan snow

送靈一上人

十年勞遠別
一笑喜相逢
又上青山去
青山千萬重

Seeing off Ling One, Buddhist Monk

Ten years we mourned being far apart
How happy we are meeting each other
Then you leave, going into green mountains
Green mountains, countless layers

韓翃 HAN HONG

寒食

春城無處不飛花
寒食東風御柳斜
日暮漢宮傳蠟燭
輕煙散入五侯家

Cold Food Festival

The spring city – nowhere without falling blossoms
On Cold Food east winds bend royal willows
At sunset Han Palace bestows candles
Wisps of smoke entering Five Noble Houses

宿石邑山中

浮雲不共此山齊
山靄蒼蒼望轉迷
曉月暫飛高樹裏
秋河隔在數峰西

Overnight Among Shiyi’s Mountains

Floating clouds reject this neatness of mountains
Mountain mists so green, gazing you become entranced
The dawn moon for now soars among high trees
The autumn river lies distant, several peaks west

耿湋 GENG WEI

秋日

返照入閭巷
憂來誰共語
古道少人行
秋風動禾黍

Fall Day

Reflected rays enter village paths
Grief comes but with whom can I talk
The ancient road few men travel
Fall wind rustles the wheat crop

戎昱 RONG YU

移家別湖上亭

好是春風湖上亭
柳條藤蔓繫離情
獨鶯久住渾相識
欲別頻啼四五聲

Moving House Saying Goodbye to a Pavilion on the Lake

Lovely in spring wind is the pavilion on the lake
Vines and willow strands entwine my feelings at parting
I’ve been here so long, the lone oriole knows me well
When I make to leave, it calls out four, five times

霽雪

風卷寒雲暮雪晴
江煙洗盡柳條輕
檐前數片無人掃
又得書窗一夜明

Snow Clears

Wind rolls winter clouds away, snow clears at evening
River mists vanished, willow strands are lightly fluttering
Outside the eave, a few patches where no one has swept
Will still brighten my study window all night long

雲安阻雨

日長巴峽雨濛濛
又說歸舟路不通
游人不及西江水
先得東流到渚宮

Yunan Blocked by Rain

All day Ba Gorge goes blurry with rain
I’m told the way is blocked for boats going back
Travelers, unable to reach West River’s waters
For the time agree to float east, to an island palace

Notes

Island palace – recreational palace of the king of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period; i.e. the ruins thereof.

李端 LI DUAN

溪行逢雨與柳中庸

日落眾山昏
蕭蕭暮雨繁
那堪兩處宿
共聽一聲猿

With Liu Zhongyong in a Glen Meeting Rain

At sunset all the hills dim
Melancholy twilight rain burgeons
How can we stay in separate places
Listening together to the crying of gibbons

聽箏

鳴箏金粟柱
素手玉房前
欲得周郎顧
時時誤拂絃

Listening to the Zheng

Sounding the zheng with gold posts
Ivory hands before the jade chamber
To get Master Zhou’s attention
Now and again would slip on the string

Notes

Zheng – a broad plucked zither.

劉方平 LIU FANGPING

月夜

更深月色半人家
北斗闌干南斗斜
今夜偏知春氣暖
蟲聲新透綠窗紗

Moonlight Night

Late watch, moonlight over half of people’s houses
North Dipper at the balcony, South Dipper slants
Tonight I know that spring’s warmth has arrived
Insects’ drone newly piercing blue gauze curtains

盧綸 LU LUN

塞下曲

其二

林暗草驚風
將軍夜引弓
平明尋白羽
沒在石稜中

from Border Refrains

No. 2

In the dark forest wind startles the grass
The general draws his bow at night
Next morning find the white feather
Lodged deep in the crevice of a rock

其三

月黑雁飛高
單于夜遁逃
欲將輕騎逐
大雪滿弓刀

No. 3

New moon, geese flying high
Chanyu fleeing in the night
The light cavalry would give chase
But heavy snow covers bows and swords

逢病軍人

行多有病住無糧
萬里還鄉未到鄉
蓬鬢哀吟古城下
不堪秋氣入金瘡

Meeting a Sick Soldier

Long journeying, sick, you stop without provisions
Countless miles from home, you haven’t reached home yet
Disheveled head piteously moaning beneath the ancient wall
Unable to bear autumn cold piercing metal’s wounds

山居

登登山路行時盡
決決溪泉到處聞
風動葉聲山犬吠
一家松火隔秋雲

Mountain Home

Up and up, and now the mountain road ends
Swiftly flowing, a creek nearby is heard
Winds blow, leaves rustle, a mountain dog barks
A family’s pinewood fire beneath autumn clouds

韋應物 WEI YINGWU

休假日訪王侍御不遇

九日馳驅一日閒
尋君不遇又空還
怪來詩思清人骨
門對寒流雪滿山

On a Day Off Visiting Censor Wang But Not Finding Him

Nine days of hustle, one day of rest
Seeking but not finding you, I returned empty-handed
How strange, poetic thoughts that chill men’s bones
Across the gate, a cold creek, snow covering the hills

因省風俗訪道士侄不見題壁

去年澗水今亦流
去年杏花今又拆
山人歸來問是誰
還是去年行春客

While Observing Local Customs I Visit My Daoist Nephew and, Not Finding Him, Write This on His Wall

Last year’s mountain creek today is still flowing
Last year’s apricot blossoms I picked again today
A mountain dweller passing by asked who I am
I’m still last year’s spring-traveling guest

答東林道士

紫閣西邊第幾峰
茅齋夜雪虎行蹤
遙看黛色知何處
欲出山門尋暮鐘

Answering Donglin, Daoist

West of Zige Valley, how many narrow peaks
A thatch hut in night snow, beside tiger tracks
If I knew where in that distant blackness
I’d leave my mountain dwelling to look for your late bell

懷琅琊深標二釋子

白雲埋大壑
陰崖滴夜泉
應居西石室
月照山蒼然

Thinking of the Two Monks Shen and Biao on Mount Langye

White clouds bury the great ravine
Shadowed slopes feed night streams
Perhaps you’re in your rock cells facing west
Where moonlight shines mountains green

滁州西澗

獨憐幽草澗邊生
上有黃鸝深樹鳴
春潮帶雨晚來急
野渡無人舟自橫

West Creek, Chuzhou

Alone I love cool grass that grows beside the stream
Above there’s an oriole in deep foliage singing
Spring tide brings rainfall, evening comes fast
At the deserted rural ferry I pull the boat out myself

秋夜寄邱員外

懷君屬秋夜
散步詠涼天
空山松子落
幽人應未眠

To Supernumerary Qiu on an Autumn Night

Missing you on this autumn night
I stroll along, singing cool skies
On empty mountains pine cones fall
The hermit must still be awake

Notes

Supernumerary indicates an official appointed outside the sanctioned quota, and thus receiving only half normal pay. It seems that this supernumerary had decided to quit, becoming a hermit instead. Pine nuts were an important food source for hermits.

登樓寄王卿

踏閣攀林恨不同
楚雲滄海思無窮
數家砧作秋山下
一郡荊榛寒雨中

On a Tower Writing to Councilor Wang

I hate climbing towers, hiking forests, without you
Chu clouds and green seas I think about incessantly
Several homes wield mallets under autumn hills
A whole province of brambles in the cold rain

Notes

Mallets – wooden clubs or mallets for fulling clothes, in preparation for winter.

登樓

茲樓日登眺
流歲暗蹉跎
坐厭淮南守
秋山紅樹多

On a Tower

Once more I climb the tower and look out
Another year passing into darkness
Right now I hate this post in Huainan
Lots of red trees in the hills in autumn

聞雁

故園眇何處
歸思方悠哉
淮南秋雨夜
高齋聞雁來

Hearing Geese

My home somewhere faraway
I dwell here thinking of returning
Autumn rain in Huainan at night
In my garret I hear geese arrive

同越瑯琊山

石門有雪無行跡
松壑凝煙滿眾香
餘食施庭寒鳥下
破衣掛樹老僧亡

With a Friend Crossing Mount Langye

At Stone Gate there’s snow, no human tracks
Mist gathers in the pine valley filled with fragrant scents
We throw leftovers onto the yard – winter birds fly down
His tattered robe hangs from a tree – the old monk is dead

西塞山

勢從千里奔
直入江中斷
嵐橫秋塞雄
地束驚流滿

Xisai Mountain

Drawing power from a thousand miles
It cuts halfway into the river
Autumn mists shroud the mighty bastion
Land binds astonishing floods

詠聲

萬物自生聽
太空恆寂寥
還從靜中起
卻向靜中消

On Sound

Countless things make their own noise
But the cosmos is ever silent
What in silence arises
Into silence will vanish again

戴叔倫 DAI SHULUN

蘭溪棹歌

涼月如眉桂柳灣
越中山色鏡中看
蘭溪三月桃花雨
半夜鯉魚來上灘

Lan Inlet Boating Song

Cold moon like an eye – willow and cassia cove
Yue’s mountains appear in the mirror
On Lan Inlet in April peach blossom rains fall
At midnight carps arrive to jump the weir

Notes

Peach blossom rains – spring rains, when peach blossoms are in bloom.

司空曙 SIKONG SHU

江村即事

罷釣歸來不繫船
江村日落正堪眠
縱然一夜風吹去
只在蘆花淺水邊

Village Scene

Coming home from fishing, you don’t tie up the boat
In the river village at sunset, ready for sleep
Even if winds during the night blew it away
It would only be among reed blossoms beside shallow waters

張謂 ZHANG WEI

早梅

一樹寒梅白玉條
迥臨村路傍溪橋
不知近水花先發
疑是經冬雪未銷

Early Plum

A plum tree in the cold, branches like white jade
One spies it on the village road beside a bridge
And unaware that, near water, flowers early bloom
Thinks it’s winter snow, not yet melted

題長安主人壁

世人結交須黃金
黃金不多交不深
縱令然諾暫相許
終是悠悠行路心

Written on a Wall in Chang’an

To make friends in this world you need money
Without a lot of money, friends are casual
Even if promises had previously been made
In the end they’re like strangers who’ve never met

賈至 JIA ZHI

白馬

白馬紫連錢
嘶鳴丹闕前
聞珂自蹀躞
不要下金鞭

White Steed

White steed strung with purple coins
Whinnies before the vermilion gate
Hears harness chimes and knows to run
No need to ply the golden whip

初至巴陵與李十二白裴九同泛洞庭湖

江上相逢皆舊游
湘山永望不堪愁
明月秋風洞庭水
孤鴻落葉一扁舟

On First Arriving in Baling, with Li Twelve Bai and Pei Nine Touring Lake Dongting

On the river meeting, we of excursions past
With Mount Xiang in view, it’s hard to be sad
Bright moon and autumn breeze on Lake Dongting
Lone geese, falling leaves, and one small boat

Notes

Jia Zhi, being demoted to be sub-prefect in Yuezhou (hence having reason to be sad), met Li Bai (twelfth in his clan) who was turning back on the road to exile and staying on Lake Dongting into the fall of 759. This is the first of three quatrains.

江南送李卿

從鶴南飛度楚山
楚南相見憶秦關
愿值回風吹羽翼
早隨陽雁及春還

Seeing off Councilor Li, South of the Yangzte

With geese flying south, you’ve crossed mountains of Chu
In Southern Chu we meet, thinking of the passes of Qin
May turning winds lift your feathered wings
That soon with the geese at springtime you return

張繼 ZHANG JI

楓橋夜泊

月落烏啼霜滿天
江楓漁火對愁眠
姑蘇城外寒山寺
夜半鐘聲到客船

Night Mooring at Maple Bridge

The moon sets, crows caw, frost fills the sky
River maples, fishing fires, confront my troubled sleep
Outside Gusu City is Cold Mountain Temple
At midnight, the bell’s tolling reaches travelers’ boats

岑參 CEN SHEN

逢入京使

故園東望路漫漫
雙袖龍鐘淚不乾
馬上相逢無紙筆
憑君傳語報平安

On Meeting a Messenger to the Capital

I look east toward home, the road far, endless
Drenches sleeves cannot dry my tears
We meet on horseback, without paper or brush
I count on you to tell them that I am safe

行軍九日思長安故園

強欲登高去
無人送酒來
遙憐故園菊
應傍戰場開

With the Troops on 9/9 Thinking of My Home in Chang’an

I want so much to climb to a high place
Though no one sends me wine
Pity the chrysanthemums of my distant home
That bloom now beside a battlefield

山房春事

梁園日暮亂飛鴉
极目蕭條三兩家
庭樹不知人去盡
春來還髮舊時花

Spring Scene at a Mountain Retreat

Liang Gardens at sunset, a rebellion of crows
To the end of sight, two or three desolate houses
Courtyard trees don’t know everyone has left
Come spring again sending out former days’ blossoms

Notes

This is the second of a pair.

裴迪 PEI DI

送崔九

歸山深淺去
須盡邱壑美
莫學武陵人
暫遊桃花裏

Seeing off Cui Nine

You return to mountains, high or low
To explore ravines or mounds, all beautiful
Do not learn from that Wuling man
And visit Peach Blossom Spring for only a while

Notes

Peach Blossom Spring – a place of perfect contentment and joy cut off from the outside world. Tao Chien wrote of a certain fisherman from Wuling who chanced upon Peach Blossom Spring, following peach blossoms on the current, but could not find it again after leaving. It became a ubiquitous motif in Tang poetry.

輞口遇雨憶終南山之作

積雨晦空曲　
平沙滅浮彩　
輞水去悠悠
南山復何在

At Wang River’s Mouth Meeting Rain I Remembered Zhongnan Mountain and Wrote This Poem

Dense rainfall darkens deserted bends
Floating glimmers die on the level sand
Wang River flows on and on
And where now is Mt. Zhongnan

景雲 JINGYUN

畫松

畫松一似真松樹
且待尋思記得無
曾在天台山上見
石橋南畔第三株

Painting of a Pine

This painting of a pine looks just like a real pine
Let me rack my brain, see if I can recall
Once, upon Mount Tiantai I saw it
On the south side of a stone bridge, the third trunk over

Notes

A humorous poem, it should be said (!), making fun of what came to be a highly stilted subgenre of poetry – poetry praising the realism of paintings. Jingyun was a Buddhist Monk active during Xuanzong’s reign..

杜甫 DU FU

絕句二首

其一

遲日江山麗
春風花草香
泥融飛燕子
沙暖睡鴛鴦

Two Quatrains

No. 1

Lingering day, river and hills lovely
Spring wind, flowers and plants fragrant
Goslings fly over loosening mud
Wild ducks doze on the warm sand

其二

江碧鳥逾白
山青花欲燃
今春看又過
何日是歸年

No.2

River blue, birds cruising white
Mountains green, flowers about to burn
This spring I watch again pass
What day is it that I’ll go home

歸雁

東來萬里客
亂定幾年歸
腸斷江城雁
高高正北飛

Returning Geese

A wanderer of countless miles east
The rebellion ended, when will I go home
Heartbroken I watch geese in this river city
High, high up, headed north flying

漫成

江月去人只數尺
風燈照夜欲三更
沙頭宿鷺聯拳靜
船尾跳魚撥剌鳴

Impromptu

River moon only a few feet off
Storm lantern lighting night into the third watch
The sandbank’s full of egrets, linked fists, fast asleep
In the boat’s wake a fish leaps, twanging sound

Notes

The night was divided into five watches; third watch was the middle of the night.

少年行

馬上誰家薄媚郎
臨階下馬坐人床
不通姓字粗豪甚
指點銀瓶索酒嘗

A Song of Youth

On horseback, of what clan is this elegant gentleman
Rides up to the steps, dismounts and sits on my bench
Without announcing his name, a hero indeed
He points to the silver jug and demands a drink of wine

絕句六首

其一

日出籬東水
雲生舍北泥
竹高鳴翡翠
沙僻舞鵾雞

from Six Quatrains

No. 1

Sun rises from waters east of the fence
Clouds form over mud fields north of the house
In high bamboo chirp kingfishers
On the desolate sandbank dances a wild crane

其四

急雨捎溪足
斜暉轉樹腰
隔巢黃鳥竝
翻藻白魚跳

No. 4

Driving rain pelts the lower creek
Late sunlight halfway up tree trunks
Outside their nests orioles together
Disturbing the weeds a white fish jumps

其六

江動月移石
溪虛雲傍花
烏栖知故道
帆過宿誰家

No. 6

The river stirs, moonlight nudges rocks
Wild inlet where clouds near flowers
Crows perching there know the old way
Sailboats going by moor at whose homes

絕句四首

其三

兩個黃鸝鳴翠柳
一行白鷺上青天
窗含西嶺千秋雪
門泊東吳萬里船

from Four Quatrains

No. 3

Two golden orioles sing in green willows
A line of white egrets ascends blue skies
My window holds West Range’s thousand-autumn snow
My gate harbors for Eastern Wu a myriad-league boat

其四

藥條藥甲潤青青
色過棕亭入草亭
苗滿空山慚取譽
根居隙地怯成形

No. 4

Medicinal herbs, medicinal barks, richly green
Deep hue leaping palm roof, into thatch roof
Sprouts covering wild mountains shame ambition
Roots lodged in the fallow earth frightfully take shape

江畔獨步尋花七絕句

其一

江上被花惱不徹
無處告訴隻顛狂
走覓南鄰愛酒伴
經旬出飲獨空床

from Alone by the River Looking for Flowers

No. 1

On the River, afflicted by flowers, frustrated to no end
Nowhere can I vent, but alone am going wild
I run to find my southern neighbor, a fellow drunk
Ten days he’s been out drinking, leaving only an empty bed

其二

稠花亂蕊畏江濱
行步欹危實怕春
詩酒尚堪驅使在
未須料理白頭人

No. 2

Bunched flowers, blooming in chaos, overtake the riverbank
Out walking I stagger, truly terrified of spring
Poetry and wine I still endure, commanding me to remain
Not needing any protection, this white head of mine

其五

黃師塔前江水東
春光懶困倚微風
桃花一簇開無主
可愛深紅愛淺紅

No. 5

Before Abbot Huang’s tower the River flows east
In spring’s brightness I suffer the slightest breeze
A cluster of peach blossoms without owners bloom
Which ones to cherish more, the deep reds or the light reds

其七

不是愛花即肯死
隻恐花盡老相催
繁枝容易紛紛落
嫩葉商量細細開

No. 7

It’s not that I love flowers so much I wish to die
But only fear, flowers gone, old age coming faster
Clustered branches easily shed blossoms
O late buds, take care to bloom slowly, slowly

漫興九首

其三

熟知茅齋絕低小
江上燕子故來頻
銜泥點汙琴書內
更接飛蟲打著人

from Improvisations

No. 3

They know full well my thatch study is low and tiny
But swallow chicks from the river just keep coming
Beaks full of mud, spattering my qin and books
They drive winged insects to strike at me

其五

腸斷春江欲盡頭
杖藜徐步立芳洲
顛狂柳絮隨風去
輕薄桃花逐水流

No. 5

Heartbreakingly, spring on the river is about to end
With my cane slowly I come to stand on a fragrant isle
Tumultuous willow catkins follow the wind away
Luminous peach blossoms chase after waters flowing

其七

糝徑楊花鋪白氈
點溪荷葉疊青錢
筍根雉子無人見
沙上鳧雛傍母眠

No. 7

Along the path, willow catkins spread a white carpet
Dotting the creek, lotus leaves stack green coins
Bamboo shoots guard pheasant offspring unseen
Ducklings doze beside their mother on the sand

江南逢李龜年

岐王宅裏尋常見
崔九堂前幾度聞
正是江南好風景
落花時節又逢君

Meeting Li Guinian South of the Yangtze

At Prince Qi’s residence I saw you often
In Cui Nine’s hall I heard you a few times
Truly, south of the River the scenery is quite fine
In the season of falling blossoms I meet you again

Notes

Li Guinian was a famous singer, much favored in Xuanzong’s court before An Lushan’s rebellion. South of the Yangzte was a place of remote exile for these two supremely cultured men. This is one of Du Fu’s very last poems.

劉長卿 LIU CHANGQING

送上人

孤雲將野鶴
豈向人間住
莫買沃洲山
時人已知處

Seeing off a Buddhist Monk

Lone clouds and wild cranes
How can they abide among men
Don’t buy into Wozhou Mountain
People today know the place

Notes

The fourth century monk Zhi Dun purchased land on Wozhou Mountain for its scenic beauty. Liu Changqing is teasing his friend here.

送靈澈上人

蒼蒼竹林寺
杳杳鐘聲晚
荷笠帶斜陽
青山獨歸遠

Seeing off Ling Che, Buddhist Monk

In lush bamboo forest a temple
Dim and low sounds the late bell
A lotus-leaf hat wears the sunset
Returning far into green mountains

彈琴

泠泠七絃上
靜聽松風寒
古調雖自愛
今人多不彈

The Qin

How resonant the seven strings
Sounding like cold wind through the pines
These old tunes, though I love them myself
Are seldom played nowadays

重送裴郎中貶吉州

猿啼客散暮江頭
人自傷心水自流
同作逐臣君更遠
青山萬里一孤舟

Again Saying Goodbye to Director Pei Being Demoted to Jizhou

Gibbons cry out, travelers part on the twilight river
Man feels for himself, as water of itself flows
We’re made exiles together, but you more distant
One lone boat in countless miles of green mountains

贈秦系征君

群公誰讓位
五柳獨知貧
惆悵青山路
煙霞老此人

For Qin Xi, Official-To-Be

Among the titled, who will give up his position
Five Willows alone knows poverty
Dejectedly he follows green mountain roads
In mist and twilight, the man grows old

Notes

Five Willows – self-style of Tao Chien. The poet honors his friend by calling him after the great poet of idealistic reclusion. Qin Xi has passed the imperial exams, but unless there’s an opening, he’s still out of luck. A poem about a common enough but still sad situation, applicable to our graduates in the humanities I suppose.

逢雪宿芙蓉山主人

日暮蒼山遠
天寒白屋貧
柴門聞犬吠
風雪夜歸人

Meeting Snow while Lodging with the Master of Hibiscus Mountain

The sun sinks, dark mountains recede
In cold weather, a white cottage poor
I hear dogs barking at the brushwood gate
Someone returns at night in wind-driven snow

尋張逸人山居

危石才通鳥道
空山更有人家
桃源定在深處
澗水浮來落花

Looking for Hermit Zhang’s Mountain Dwelling

Dangerous rocks keep clear the bird path
Wild mountain, yet there's human habitation
Peach Blossom Spring may be farther in yet
Fallen petals float by on the creek’s water

Notes

Bird path – a very narrow path, that figuratively only birds could fly through. About Peach Blossom Spring, please see note to Pei Di’s poem, “Seeing off Cui Nine”.

李白 LI BAI

夜宿山寺

危樓高百尺
手可摘星辰
不敢高聲語
恐驚天上人

Overnight in a Mountain Temple

Sheer tower hundred feet tall
I can reach out and pluck the stars
And dare not say a loud word
Afraid to startle the residents of heaven

望廬山瀑布

日照香爐生紫煙
遙看瀑布掛前川
飛流直下三千尺
疑是銀河落九天

Viewing Mount Lu’s Waterfall

Sunlight strikes Incense Burner, setting off purple mist
Faraway see the waterfall hang before the river
The flying stream descends sheer three thousand feet
Like the Milky Way exiled from highest heaven

望天門山

天門中斷楚江開
碧水東流至此回
兩岸青山相對出
孤帆一片日邊來

Viewing Tianmen Mountain

Tianmen cleaves in the middle, where Chu River begins
Green waters flowing east arrive here and turn
Blue cliffs facing each other on both sides shoot up
Lone sail translucent beside the sun makes its approach

山中問答

問餘何意棲碧山
笑而不答心自閑
桃花流水窅然去
別有天地非人間

Question and Answer in the Mountains

Asked why I perch in green mountains
I smile without answer, my soul at peace
Peach blossoms on flowing waters silently leave
There’s sky and earth apart, different than the world of men

靜夜思

床前明月光
疑是地上霜
舉頭望明月
低頭思故鄉

Still Night Thoughts

Before my bed the bright moonlight
I think it’s frost upon the ground
And raise my head to look at the bright moon
And lower my head, missing home

黃鶴樓送孟浩然之廣陵

故人西辭黃鶴樓
煙花三月下揚州
孤帆遠影碧空盡
唯見長江天際流

Seeing off Meng Haoran Going to Guangling

Old friend leaves the West at Yellow Crane Tower
With hazy blossoms in April goes down to Yangzhou
Lone sail’s distant image blue skies vanish
I only see a great river flowing on the brink of heaven

夏日山中

懶搖白羽扇
裸體青林中
脫巾挂石壁
露嵿洒松風

Summer Day in the Mountains

Lazy I wave my white feather fan
Strip naked in the green forest
Untie my kerchief and hang it on the rockface
Pine wind sprinkles my bare head

Notes

The last line is lifted from Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping’s translation in The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry (2005).

自遣

對酒不覺瞑
落花盈我衣
醉起步溪月
鳥還人亦稀

Abandon

With wine I forget it’s evening
Fallen blossoms gather on my clothes
Drunk I rise and walk the moonlit stream
Where birds are gone and people, also few

山中與幽人對酌

兩人對酌山花開
一杯一杯復一杯
我醉欲眠君且去
明朝有意包琴來

Drinking with a Hermit in the Mountains

We two drink, mountain flowers open
One cup, another cup, and still another cup
I’m drunk and want to sleep, you can leave
Tomorrow, if you think of me, with your qin come back

Notes

Qin – a narrow plucked zither. See Liu Changqing’s poem, “The Qin”.

觀放白鷹

八月邊風高
胡鷹白錦毛
孤飛一片雪
百里見秋毫

Watching a White Falcon Set Loose

September, high in the border wind
A Mongolian falcon, feathers white brocade
Courses alone – single snowflake
Miles of autumn dwindle to a hair in its eyes

Notes

Qiuhao (“autumn down”) means “minute” or “tiny.” I’ve opted for a similar pun on “hair” and “hare.” The last line can also be translated: “See how tiny it appears in miles of autumn.” In the original, without pronouns, the reader’s gaze and that of the falcon are wonderfully superimposed.

清平調詞三首

其一

雲想衣裳花想容
春風拂檻露華濃
若非群玉山頭見
會向瑤臺月下逢

Songs of Pure Peace - 3 Poems

No. 1

Her robe I dream a cloud, and a flower, her face
Spring wind brushes the balcony, dew splendidly gathered
If you don’t see her on Qunyu Mountain
Head to Yao Terrace and there, in moonlight, you’ll find her

Notes

Qunyu Mountain; Yao Terrace – dwelling places of immortals.

其二

一枝紅艷露凝香
雲雨巫山枉斷腸
借問漢宮誰得似
可憐飛燕倚新妝

No. 2

One branch of blushing grace, dew storing fragrance
Clouds and rain hide Wu Mountains’ heartbreak
Let me ask, in Han palaces, was there ever one like her
Pity Feiyan, who counted on being freshly made up

Notes

Wu Mountains – in the Three Gorges area, where the goddess of clouds and rain lived. Zhao Feiyan was a famous beauty, empress under Emperor Cheng of the Han (1st century BCE).

其三

名花傾國兩相歡
長得君王帶笑看
解釋春風無限恨
沉香亭北倚欄杆

No. 3

Renowned flowers toppling nations, rejoicing in each other
Forever pleasing in the eyes of the smiling Emperor
Spring wind dispels the deepest griefs
North of Chenxiang Palace, where she leans from a balcony

Notes

These exquisite songs were supposedly composed extempore, when a drunken Li Bai was summoned to provide entertainment for Xuanzong’s royal party. Yang Guifei is herein likened to peony blossoms. “Toppling nations” is a stock phrase, denoting an enchanting beauty.

玉階怨

玉階生白露
夜久侵羅襪
欲下水晶簾
玲瓏望秋月

Jade Steps Complaint

Jade steps spawn white dew
Long night invades silk stockings
About to lower the crystal curtain
She stares at the shimmering autumn moon

獨坐敬亭山

眾鳥高飛盡
孤雲獨去閒
相看兩不厭
只有敬亭山

Sitting Alone on Mount Jingting

Flocks of birds fly high away
Lone cloud sets out alone in leisure
We view each other without contempt
There’s only Mount Jingting

橫江詞

其一

人道橫江好
儂道橫江惡
一風三日吹倒山
白浪高於瓦官閣

from Heng River Songs

No. 1

Some say Heng River is good
I say Heng river is deadly
Winds blowing three days topple the peaks
White waves rising higher than Waguan Tower

其四

海神東過惡風迴
浪打天門石壁開
浙江八月何如此
濤似連山噴雪來

No. 4

The Sea God sends vicious winds from the east
Waves batter Heaven’s Gate, splitting rock cliffs
Zhe River in the eighth month is nothing like this
Huge waves a mountain range foaming snow

贈汪倫

李白乘舟將欲行
忽聞岸上踏歌聲
桃花潭水深千尺
不及汪倫送我情

To Wang Lun

Li Bai gets into the boat, ready to take off
Suddenly he hears singing and stamping on the bank
Peach Blossom Pond’s water a thousand feet deep
Compares not with Wang Lun’s love for me in that goodbye

早發白帝城

朝辭白帝彩雲間
千里江陵一日還
兩岸猿聲啼不住
輕舟已過萬重山

Setting out Early from Baidi Castle

Early morning leaving Baidi in a prismatic cloud
The thousand-mile return to Jiangling in just one day
On both sides gibbons’ cries ring out nonstop
My slight boat makes it through countless rugged mountains

Notes

Li Bai had been slowly journeying west, toward the place of his exile, for having served an upstart prince during the An-Shi Rebellion, when news of a general pardon brought him back down the Yangzte, through Baidi and Jiangling. The poem records the exhilaration of the fast ride down this remote part of the Yangzte, as well as the poet’s great hope and joy in his restored freedom.

王維 WANG WEI

九月九日憶山東兄弟

獨在異鄉為異客
每逢佳節倍思親
遙知兄弟登高處
遍插茱萸少一人

On 9/9 Thinking of My Brothers East of the Mountains

Living by myself, a stranger in strangers’ hometown
Whenever the Holiday comes, I think even more of dear ones
Far away, I know that my brothers are climbing to a high place
Decked with sprays of dogwood, missing a person

Notes

About 9/9 Festival, please see note to Cen Shen’s poem, "With the Troops on 9/9...”.

渭城曲

渭城朝雨浥輕塵
客舍青青柳色新
勸君更盡一杯酒
西出陽關無故人

Wei City Song

Early rain dampens the light dust of Wei City
The lodge basks in willows’ new green
I urge you to drain another cup of wine
West of Yang Pass there’ll be no friends

相思

紅豆生南國
秋來發幾枝
願君多采擷
此物最相思

Lovelorn

Red-bean grows in southern country
Come autumn, new branches sprout
I pray that you gather a whole bunch
It’s the best thing for remembering one you love

Notes

Red sandalwood bears red bean-like seeds in the fall and is known as the red-bean or lovelorn tree.

送別

山中相送罷
日暮掩柴扉
春草明年綠
王孫歸不歸

Farewell

After saying goodbye in the hills
Twilight, I close the brushwood gate
Spring grasses next year will be green
But royal son, will or won’t you return

臨高臺送黎拾遺

相送臨高臺
川原杳何極
日暮飛鳥還
行人去不息

On a High Terrace Seeing off Reminder Li

Saying goodbye we come to a high terrace
The river’s source is distant beyond view
Flying birds return in the sunset
A traveler goes and does not stop

答裴迪

淼淼寒流廣
蒼蒼秋雨晦
君問終南山
心知白雲外

Answering Pei Di

Cold waters flowing far and wide
Glimmer of dark autumn rain
You asked about Zhongnan Mountain
The heart knows beyond white clouds

Notes

Pei Di’s poem can be found here.

山中

荊谿白石出
天寒紅葉稀
山路元無雨
空嵐濕人衣

In the Mountains

A brambly creek exits white rock
In skies cold, red leaves are few
On mountain roads without rain
Airy moisture dampens clothes

書事

輕陰閣小雨
深院晝慵開
坐看蒼苔色
慾上人衣來

Incident

Lightly shadowed pavilion in misty rain
Deep garden where day slowly begins
I sit watching the color of green moss
Making to rise onto the clothes of a person

鳥鳴澗

人閒桂花落
夜靜春山空
月出驚山鳥
時鳴春澗中

Bird-Cry Ravine

Persons idle, cassia blossoms fall
Still night on spring hills empty
The moon rises, startling mountain birds
That momently cry in the spring ravine

鸕鶿堰

乍嚮紅蓮沒
復出清蒲颺
獨立何褵褷
銜魚古查上

Cormorant Dike

Suddenly it turns, plummets through red lotus
Emerges again, flying to the cool shore
Stands alone, sleek-feathered
A fish in its beak, on a rotted old log

鹿柴

空山不見人
但聞人語響
返景入深林
復照青苔上

Deer Park

Empty mountain no one seen
Only hear human words echo
Returning light enters the deep woods
Shines again on green moss rising

木蘭柴

秋山斂餘照
飛鳥逐前侶
彩翠時分明
夕嵐無處所

Magnolia Park

Autumn hills gather excess light
A bird flying chases its mate
Prismatic green flares momently bright
Unlocated in the evening haze

宮槐陌

仄徑蔭宮槐
幽陰多綠苔
應門但迎掃
畏有山僧來

Temple Locust Path

The narrow path is shaded by temple locusts
In quiet shade thrives green moss
Still the gatekeeper cordially sweeps
Afraid a mountain monk may come

南垞

輕舟南垞去
北垞淼難即
隔浦望人家
遙遙不相識

South Hill

A light boat goes off to South Hill
North Hill over wide waters is hard to reach
Across the bay I gaze at other houses
Far away we don’t know each other

欒傢瀨

颯颯秋雨中
淺淺石溜瀉
跳波自相濺
白鷺驚復下

Luan Family Rapids

Swift, swift in autumn rain
The shallows through rocks tumbling
Waves splash onto jumping waves
A white egret startles up, then drops

竹里館

獨坐幽篁裡
彈琴復長嘯
深林人不知
明月來相照

Bamboo Mile Lodge

I sit alone in remote bamboo
Playing the qin and whistling long
In deep forest no one knows
The bright moon comes and shines on me

贈韋穆十八

與君青眼客
共有白雲心
不相東山去
日令春草深

To Wei Mu Eighteen

With you, guest of my clear eye
We share a white cloud in our hearts
Why don’t we go to East Mountain
The sun commands spring grasses deep

祖咏 ZU YONG

終南望餘雪

終南陰嶺秀
積雪浮雲端
林表明霽色
城中增暮寒

Viewing Zhongnan’s Persistent Snow

Zhongnan’s shadowed ridge is lovely
Stored snow and floating clouds joining
Treetops reflect skies’ clearing
Inside the city, evening grows colder

王昌齡 WANG CHANGLING

芙蓉樓送辛漸

其一

寒雨連江夜入吳
平明送客楚山孤
洛陽親友如相問
一片冰心在玉壺

At Hibiscus Tower Parting with Xin Jian

No. 1

Cold rains along the river, night coming to Wu
Dawn will see you off to lonely Chu mountains
In Luoyang, if family and friends ask
My heart’s ice-pure as the inside of a jade vase

其二

丹陽城南秋海陰
丹陽城北楚雲深
高樓送客不能醉
寂寂寒江明月心

No. 2

North of Danyang, autumn seas overcast
South of Danyang, Chu clouds thick
In the high tower seeing you off, I can’t seem to get drunk
Still lies the cold river, the bright moon is my heart

盧溪別人

武陵溪口駐扁舟
溪水隨君向北流
行到荊門上三峽
莫將孤月對猿愁

On Lu Inlet Saying Goodbye

In Wuling, at the inlet’s mouth, a small boat waits
Inlet water follows you, northward flowing
You’ll reach Jingmen, then up to the Three Gorges
Don’t look on the lonely moon, facing gibbons’ sorrow

Notes

Don’t look on the lonely moon... – The cries of gibbons are sad enough, don’t also look on the moon, which will only make you sadder. The moon and the haunting cries of gibbons were staples of poetry evoking home-longing.

重別李評事

莫道秋江離別難
舟船明日是長安
吳姬緩舞留君醉
隨意青楓白露寒

Again Saying Goodbye to Case Reviewer Li

Don’t say that, on the autumn river, leaving is difficult
Your small boat tomorrow will have reached Chang’an
The Wu entertainer, slowly dancing, delays you drunk
Let dark maples outside chill with white dew

別辛漸

別館蕭條風雨寒
扁舟月色渡江看
酒酣不識關西道
卻望春江雲尚殘 \

Parting with Xin Jian

At the dismal farewell inn, cold wind and rain
A small boat crosses the river in moonlight
Drinking, I forget the way west of the pass
And look again: clouds parting on the spring river

送高三之桂林

留君夜飲對瀟湘
從此歸舟客夢長
嶺上梅花侵雪暗
歸時還拂桂花香

Seeing off Gao Three Going to Guilin

Keeping you, we drink at night, facing Xiaoxiang
Hereafter, in the returning boat, a traveler’s dream extends
Darkly snow overtakes plum blossoms on the mountainside
There’s cassia fragrance, wafting this moment when you go

Notes

Jueju makes a fine vessel for poems of parting, but the almost hallucinatory intensity of Wang Changling’s many fine jueju of parting is something very special indeed.

孟浩然 MENG HAORAN

春曉

春眠不覺曉
處處聞啼鳥
夜來風雨聲
花落知多少

Spring Morning

Sleeping in spring, oblivious of morning
I hear birds everywhere singing
Last night, the sound of wind and rain
Blossoms fell, who knows how many

宿建德江

移舟泊煙渚
日暮客愁新
野曠天低樹
江清月近人

Mooring on Jiande River

I guide my boat to moor on the misty bank
A traveler’s heart saddens anew at evening
On wide fields, the sky is below trees
In the clear river, the moon comes near to me

問舟子

向夕問舟子
前程復幾多
灣頭正堪泊
淮裏足風波

Asking the Boatman

Toward evening I asked the boatman
How much still do we have to go
The bay-head’s a good place to put in
Huai River is full of waves and winds

Notes

The last two lines form the boatman’s answer. These question-and-answer poems often hinge on the answer’s unexpected felicity or amusing indirectness. The boatman avoids telling the passengers that they still have a very long way to go.

訪袁拾遺不遇

洛陽訪才子
江嶺作流人
聞說梅花草
何如此地春

Visiting But Not Finding Reminder Yuan

In Luoyang I visit the gentleman
Made wanderer now in Jiangling
I hear that plum blossoms, early
Aren’t like the spring scene here

Notes

Plum trees in Jiangling, being in the South, would’ve been earlier to bloom. The timing of plum blossoms was of considerable interest to Tang poets.

渡浙江問同舟人

潮落江平未有風
扁舟共濟與君同
時時引領望天末
何處青山是越中

On Zhe River Asking One Who Shares the Boat

The tide falls, there’s no wind on the calm river
In a small boat crossing together, we’re equals
Time and again I turn to gaze at the horizon
Where is it Yue among green mountains

Notes

Yue – an ancient state in the Southeast.

王之渙 WANG ZHIHUAN

登鸛雀樓

白日依山盡
黃河入海流
欲窮千里目
更上一層樓

Climbing Stork Tower

The white sun rests on the peaks
The Yellow River enters the sea
To view the whole thousand miles
Climb another story in the tower

涼州詞

黃河遠上白雲間
一片孤城萬仞山
羌笛何須怨楊柳
春風不度玉門關

Liangzhou Tune

The Yellow River rises distantly into white clouds
A stretch of lone wall, countless miles of mountains
Why should Qiang flutes for willows lament
Spring wind never crosses Yumen Pass

Notes

For willows lament – Willow branches were given as tokens of remembrance (see the following poem), and “Breaking Willow Branches” was a traditional song of parting. Yumen or Jade Gate was a famous frontier pass in the Northwest.

送別

楊柳東門樹
青青夾御河
近來攀折苦
應為別離多

Parting

Willows, trees of the east gate
Lushly green, lining the royal moat
Recently have suffered raids
From I think many partings

王翰 WANG HAN

涼州詞

葡萄美酒夜光杯
欲飲琵琶馬上催
醉臥沙場君莫笑
古來征戰幾人回

Liangzhou Tune

Fine grape wine in night-shining cups
We want to drink, the horseman’s pipa urges us on
Drunk we sprawl on the sand – but don’t you laugh
Since ancient times, from war how many have returned

Notes

Liangzhou was an important hub on the northern trade and military route into Central Asia. Grape wine and cups made of phosphorescent jade were exotic local products. The soldiers, celebrating victory, are hurried from the battlefield, perhaps to ready for another skirmish.

張旭 ZHANG XU

桃花谿

隱隱飛橋隔野煙
石磯西畔問漁船
桃花盡日隨流水
洞在清谿何處邊

Peach Blossom Creek

Faintly appearing, a soaring bridge beyond wild mists
From the west end of the stone quay ask the fishing boat
With peach blossoms all day following the currents
Where is it, that grotto beside the clear stream

Notes

Along with Huai Su, Zhang Xu is best known as one of the two great draft-cursive calligraphers of the Tang dynasty. “That grotto” refers to Peach Blossom Spring, alluded to in the title – about which, see note to Pei Di’s poem "Seeing off Cui Nine".

張說 ZHANG YUE

蜀道後期

客心爭日月
來往預期程
秋風不相待
先至洛陽城

On Shu Roads Making Promises

A traveler’s heart races sun and moon
Comes and goes with future dates
Autumn wind refuses to wait
Will make it to Luoyang before me

岳州守歳二首（其二）

桃枝堪辟悪
爆竹好驚眠
歌舞留今夕
猶言惜舊年

New Year’s Eve at Yuezhou

Peach branches can ward off evil
Firecrackers cheerfully scatter sleep
Singing and dancing prolong this night
As though we cherished the year gone by

Notes

In exile in the South, the poet would hardly have cherished the year gone by. This is the second of a pair of quatrains.

元朝

今歲元日樂
不謝往年春
知向來心道
誰為昨夜人

New Year’s Day

On the first of this year my happiness
Is the same as last spring’s
I know as before my heart’s way
But who was that I was last night

Notes

The last line is Stephen Owen’s translation, found in The Poetry of the Early T’ang (Yale University Press, 1977, p.403).

和尹從事懋泛洞庭

平湖一望上連天
林景千尋下洞泉
忽驚水上光華滿
疑是乘舟到日邊

Matching Official Mao’s “Floating on Lake Dongting”

The calm lake in one’s view rises mingling with heaven
Forest scenery through many fathoms pierces currents
Suddenly amazing light envelopes the waters
And it seems that we’re riding our boat to the edge of the sun

Notes

“Matching” means to compose a poem in response to another poem, on the same theme and using the same rhyme. It was a practice of court poetry.

賀知章 HE ZHIZHANG

回鄉偶書

其一

少小離家老大回
鄉音無改鬢毛衰
兒童相見不相識
笑問客從何處來

Written Upon Coming Home

No. 1

I left home when young and return an old man
My hometown accent remains, but my hair has grayed
Children seeing me don’t know who I am
They ask merrily, “Stranger, where have you come from?”

其二

離別家鄉歲月多
近來人事少消磨
惟有門前鏡湖水
春風不改舊時波

No. 2

I was gone from my hometown for many years
Mankind’s recent affairs have come to ruins
Only Lake Jing’s waters remain before the gate
And spring wind and the old turbulence haven’t changed

王勃 WANG BO

思歸

長江悲已滯
萬里念將歸
況屬高風晚
山山黃葉飛

Thinking of Returning

My sorrow is sunk in the Yangzte
Countless miles away, I dream of returning
It’s the season of evenings’ high winds
On mountain after mountain, yellow leaves are flying

早春野望

江曠春潮白
山長曉岫青
他鄉臨眺極
花柳映邊亭

Wild View in Early Spring

The river calm, spring currents white
Mountains endless, morning peaks green
Far from home I strain my gaze
Flowering willow shines beside a gazebo

別人

江上風煙積
山幽雲霧多
送君南浦外
還望將如何

Farewell

On the river windblown mists gather
Darkening hills, cloud-like fog burgeons
Beyond South Cove I see you off
And keep gazing to see how you’re getting on

Notes

This is the second in a series of four quatrains.

冬郊行望

桂密岩花白
梨疏林葉紅
江皋寒望盡
歸念斷征篷

Touring the Winter Countryside

Lush cassias, a cave white with flowers
Thin pears, leaves turning red in the forest
I gaze far down cold fields that line the river
Think of returning and cut the wayfaring sail

普安建陰題壁

江漢深無極
梁岷不可攀
山川雲霧裏
遊子幾時還

Written on Jianyin’s Cliff in Fu’an

Han River deepens fathomless
Liangman is impossible to cross
Mountain and river in cloud-like fog
The wanderer will come back when

杜審言 DU SHENYAN

贈蘇綰書記

知君書記本翩翩
為許從戎赴朔邊
紅粉樓中應計日
燕支山下莫經年

For Secretary Su Wan

I know that your writings are by nature unrestrained
But you’ve chosen to follow the army to northern frontiers
A powdered beauty in her chamber must be counting the days
Don’t stay under Mount Yanzhi a whole year

王績 WANG JI

醉後

阮籍醒時少
陶潛醉日多
百年何足度
乘興且長歌

Drunk

Ruan Ji’s sober hours were few
Tao Chien’s drunken days many
How else to spend a lifetime
Than be inspired and keep on singing

Notes

Ruan Ji; Tao Qian – poets of the third and fourth centuries, respectively, during politically turbulent times. Tao Chien in particular was revered by Tang poets, who worshiped his poetry on the themes of nature, drinking, and idealistic reclusion.

過酒家五首

其一

洛陽無大宅
長安乏主人
黃金銷未盡
只為酒家貧

from Dropping by the Tavern

No. 1

I’ve got no mansion in Luoyang
And lack a patron in Chang’an
My money isn’t all spent
Only because this is a cheap tavern

其二

此日長昏飲
非關養性靈
眼看人盡醉
何忍獨為醒

No. 2

Today into night I drink
Forget nurturing the soul
Seeing mankind stone drunk
I’d hate to be the sober one

其四

對酒但知飲
逢人莫彊牽
倚爐便得睡
橫瓮足堪眠

No. 4

Wine I only know to drink
And don’t hassle passersby
Against the stove I nod off
The jug empty I fall asleep

其五

有客須教飲
無錢可別沽
來時長道貰
慚愧酒家胡

No. 5

I have a guest and must teach him to drink
Though out of money there’s no other way
Coming here I always say, “Credit!”
Obliging the tavern-owning foreigner

夜過東溪

石苔應可踐
叢枝幸易攀
清溪歸路直
乘月夜歌還

Crossing East Creek at Night

Mossy rocks I tread right on
Thickets are good for grabbing on to
My way back follows the clear creek
In moonlight and full of song

秋夜喜遇王處士

北場芸藿罷
東皋刈黍歸
相逢秋月滿
更值流螢飛

Joyfully Meeting Recluse Wang on an Autumn Night

Beans hoed – leaving the north field
Millet harvested – returning from east slope
We meet in bright autumn moonlight
And what more, fireflies are drifting about

寒山 HANSHAN

閑遊華頂上
天朗晝光輝
四顧晴空裏
白雲同鶴飛

Idle I stroll Hua Peak
Fair sky and brilliant daylight
The whole world in this clear void
Cranes and white clouds flying together

Notes

Hanshan or Cold Mountain was the legendary hermit author of a collection of exhortatory moral poetry from the Tang era. Identified with the mountain where he lived, nothing is known about Hanshan other than the details of his poems. The unconventional but often lovely poems are untitled.

一住寒山萬事休
更無雜念掛心頭
閒休石壁題詩句
任運還同不繫舟

Once you live on Cold Mountain troubles end
No more distractions hang over your head
In idle leisure write verses on rock cliffs
Accepting what comes like an untied boat

閑自訪高僧
煙山萬萬層
師親指歸路
月掛一輪燈

Idle I went to find a high monk
Through the misty mountain’s endless heights
My teacher friend pointed the way back
Where the moon hung its single round lamp

碧澗泉水清
寒山月華白
默知神自明
觀空境逾寂

Turquoise creek, source waters clear
Cold Mountain, splendid white moon
Quiet wisdom, spirit’s self-understanding
Gazing empty, a view more serene

吾心似秋月
碧潭清皎潔
無物堪比倫
教我如何說

My soul is like the fall moon
Green pool clear and pure
Nothing can compare with it
Tell me how to explain it

眾星羅列夜深明
巖點孤燈月未沉
圓滿光華不磨瑩
掛在青天是我心

Constellations spread, night late and bright
Lone lamp among cliffs, the moon hasn’t sunk
Fully round, resplendent, unpolished jewel
Hung up in the clear sky is my soul

太上隱者 Supreme Hermit

答人

偶來松樹下
高枕石頭眠
山中無曆日
寒盡不知年

Answering Someone

By chance I came under pines
High vantage sleeping on boulders
In the mountains there’s no calendar
Winter ends but who knows the year

Notes

Taishang Yinzhe or Supreme Hermit was the self-style of a hermit on Mt. Zhongnan. 高枕 “gāozhěn” refers to the lofty perch of one who has withdrawn from the world; there’s self-mockery in this poem, as I read it.

Chronology of the Poets

[Compiled from various sources]

Wang Ji	王績	585–644
Du Shenyan	杜審言	ca. 645–708
Wang Bo	王勃	650–676
He Zhizhang	賀知章	659–744
Zhang Yue	張說	667–730
Zhang Xu	張旭	?–ca. 750
Wang Han	王翰	fl. early 700s
Wang Zhihuan	王之渙	688–742
Meng Haoran	孟浩然	689–740
Wang Changling	王昌齡	ca. 690–ca. 756
Zu Yong	祖咏	699–ca. 746
Wang Wei	王維	699–761
Li Bai	李白	701–762
Liu Changqing	劉長卿	ca. 710–ca. 785
Du Fu	杜甫	712–770
Jingyun	景雲	fl. mid 700s
Pei Di	裴迪	b. ca. 714
Cen Shen	岑參	ca. 715–770
Zhang Ji	張繼	ca. 715–ca. 779
Jia Zhi	賈至	718–772
Zhang Wei	張謂	d. ca. 778
Sikong Shu	司空曙	720–790
Dai Shulun	戴叔倫	732–789
Wei Yingwu	韋應物	737–792
Lu Lun	盧綸	ca. 739-ca. 788
Liu Fangping	劉方平	ca. 742–ca. 779
Li Duan	李端	743–782
Rong Yu	戎昱	744–800
Geng Wei	耿湋	fl. late 700s
Han Hong	韓翃	fl. late 700s
Chen Yu	陳羽	fl. late 700s
Yong Yuzhi	雍裕之	fl. late 700s
Li Yi	李益	748–829
Meng Jiao	孟郊	751–814
Zhang Ji	張籍	ca. 767–ca. 830
Dou Gong	竇鞏	fl. early 800s
Liu Yuxi	劉禹錫	772–842
Bai Juyi	白居易	772–846
Cui Hu	崔護	772 - 846
Liu Zongyuan	柳宗元	773–819
Yuan Zhen	元稹	779–831
Jia Dao	賈島	779–843
Zhang Hu	張祜	ca. 785–ca. 849
Li He	李賀	791–817
Zhu Qingyu	朱慶餘	b. ca. 797
Du Mu	杜牧	803–852
Fang Gan	方干	809–888
Chen Tao	陳陶	812–885
Li Shangyin	李商隱	813–858
Li Bin	李頻	818–876
Lu Guimeng	陸龜蒙	d. 881
Guanxiu	貫休	832–912
Luo Yin	羅隱	833–910
Wei Zhuang	韋莊	836–910
Sikong Tu	司空圖	837–908
Han Wo	韓偓	ca. 844–923
Du Xunhe	杜荀鶴	846–904
Wang Jia	王駕	b. 851
Zilan	子蘭	fl. late 800s
Zhang Bi	張泌	Five Dynasties period
Jin Changzu	金昌緒	Unknown
Hanshan	寒山	Unknown
Supreme Hermit	太上隱者	Unknown

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Saturday, May 24, 2014