My old friend takes leave of the west at Yellow Crane Tower,
in the misty third-month blossoms goes downstream toYang-chou.
The far-off shape of his lone sail disappears in the blue-green void,
and all I see is the long river flowing to the edge of the sky.
translated by Burton Watson
Sarah Torribio and her right brain. Music. Musings. Writing. Style.
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The Green Lizard Log
Leonard Durso 
Very beautiful.
I posted two other translations of this by David Hinton and also by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu which are very similar but I prefer this last line for some reason. The other two translations have it going to heaven but I really like the sky.
Yes I really like “the sky” too.
We agree.
Absolutely beautiful. I’m so glad I got to read this. Stunning. Thank you for posting.
Glad you liked it. There are two other translations of the same poem on my blog, too.
I’ll check them out. Cheers!
I am happy with the different translations. It depends on whether I am thinking he is leaving to go somewhere else – like on a long journey – or whether he has died suddenly. But whatever, all very beautiful.
He’s going on a long journey. But yes, it works both ways.
I’m confused by the line with goes. So the third month goes downstream or blossoms go downstream. I like the idea of months passing on down the stream but it reads funny.
Overall, I agree with the others that it’s a beautiful fare thee well.
He goes downstream. The blossoms refers to the time of year: the third month blossoms or as another translator put it “the misty month of flowers”. It is a little confusing Burton’s way but each translator dealt with it in a different way.
and so all things move on…
Some do. Others stay put. Choices.