there you are
adorning the screen
leaning forward
hands grasping rail
that smile lighting the world
that surrounds you
and my heart
my heart swells
then cracks
gazing at you
Month: February 2018
Meandering Poems, One by Tu Fu
A single petal swirling diminishes the spring.
Ten thousand dots adrift in the wind, they sadden me.
Shouldn’t I then gaze at flowers about to fall before my eyes?
Never disdain the hurtful wine that passes through my lips.
In the small pavilion by the river nest the kingfisher birds;
Close by a high tomb in the royal park lie stone unicorns.
This, a simple law of nature: seek pleasure while there’s time.
Who needs drifting fame to entangle the body?
translated by Irving Y. Lo
from Enjoying Coolness by Wang Wei
I rinse my mouth in the water and wash my feet.
In front, I face an old man angling for fish:
How many in all are those who lusted for bait
And now vainly long to be “east of the lotus leaves.”
translated by Hugh M. Stimson
Seeing Someone Off by Wang Wei
Dismounting, I offer you wine
And ask, “Where are you bound?”
You say, “I’ve found no fame or fortune;
I must return to rest in the South Mountain.”
You leave, and I ask no more–
White clouds drift on and on.
translated by Irving Y. Lo
Red Peonies by Wang Wei
Such radiance of green,
so casual and composed;
The tint of her dress
Blends crimson with pink.
The heart of a flower
is nearly torn with grief:
Will spring’s brilliance
ever know her heart?
translated by Irving Y. Lo
from Douglas Moore’s blog Art of Quotation
from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
centuries later
even in dreams
centuries later
you are
incomplete
a hole
inside you
what delusion
drove me
to think
I could ever
fill it
another translation from the Chinese by Mary Tang on her blog Life is But This
A good rain knows its season Fostering life in Spring Stealthily it enters the night with a breeze Softly and silent it bedews all things Dark clouds shadow this unlit path Only a flicker from a boat by the river When dawn stains red the rain soaked wet Jin Guan City will be […]
via Glad Rain on a Spring Night by Du Fu (712-770) — Life is But This 命
Leonard Durso 