A thousand goblets at the farewell feast
can’t dilute my sorrow,
my heart at separation is twisted
in a hundred unyielding knots.
Tender orchids wilt and wither,
return to the garden of spring;
willow trees, here and there,
moor travelers’ boats.
In meeting and parting I lament
the unsettled clouds;
love and affection should learn from the river
in flowing on and on.
I know we won’t meet again
in the season of blossoms,
and I won’t sit by quietly
drunk in my chamber.
translated by Jan W. Walls
Leonard Durso 
Great poem, new translator for me. Will have to check more — “love and affection should learn from the river” is so strikingly contemporary.
It comes from an anthology I’ve mentioned before: Sunflower Splendor published in 1975, editors Wu-chi Liu & Irving Lo. I had this book in my bookstore in 1977 and fell in love with it. It’s been with me every since and I continually go back to it. Numerous translators are included.
I will try and find that. Yu Hsuan-chi’s work is stunningly refreshing, apart from her significance as one of the few widely known female poets of the T’ang dynasty. Those jarring, out-of-time lines are going to send me running back to a book of her collected poems–far too few of them, unfortunately, but all of them wonderful.
Well she died young, though had a rather eventful life.
Reblogged this on Leonard Durso.