It gave its first fruit this year
Cornelian Cherry,
Three of them.
Next year it will give five.
Life is long,
We’ll wait.
What can it matter?
Bless you, Cornelian Cherry!
translated by George Messo
Month: December 2018
At Parting by Wang Wei
I dismount from my horse and I offer you wine,
And I ask you where you are going and why.
And you answer: “I am discontent
And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain.
So give me leave and ask no questions.
White clouds pass there without end.”
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
quote from Li Shang-yin
Literature endures like the universal spirit,
And its breath becomes a part of the vitals of all men.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
“If I lived my life by what others were thinkin’, the heart inside me would’ve died.”
from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
“If I lived my life by what others were thinkin’, the heart inside me would’ve died.”
Bob Dylan, song quote from Up to Me (Outtakes from Blood on the Tracks)
Up to Me
Everything went from bad to worse
Money never changed a thing
Death kept followin’, trackin’ us down
At least I heard your bluebird sing
Now somebody’s got to show their hand
Time is an enemy
I know you’re long gone
I guess it must be up to me
Money never changed a thing
Death kept followin’, trackin’ us down
At least I heard your bluebird sing
Now somebody’s got to show their hand
Time is an enemy
I know you’re long gone
I guess it must be up to me
If I’d thought about it I never would’ve done it
I guess I would’ve let it slide
If I’d-a paid attention to what others were thinkin’
The heart inside me would’ve died
But I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity
Someone had to reach for the risin’ star
I guess it was up to me
I guess I would’ve let it slide
If I’d-a paid attention to what others were thinkin’
The heart inside me would’ve died
But I was just too stubborn to ever be governed by enforced insanity
Someone had to reach for the risin’ star
I guess it was up to me
Oh, the union central is pullin’ out
The orchids…
The orchids…
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A Brief but Happy Meeting with my Brother-in-law by Li Yi
After these ten torn wearisome years
We have met again. We were both so changed
That hearing first your surname, I thought you a stranger—
Then learning your given name, I remembered your young face . . .
All that has happened with the tides
We have told and told till the evening bell . . .
Tomorrow you journey to Yo-chou,
Leaving autumn between us, peak after peak.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
In Memory: “Let the shameful walls of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”
from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
“Let the shameful walls of exclusion finally come tumbling down.”
George H. W. Bush, 1924-2018, president
Quote from “Speaking of Freedom: The Collected Speeches”, p.119, Simon and Schuster
On Hearing a Lute-player by Liu Chang-ch’ing
Your seven strings are like the voice
Of a cold wind in the pines,
Singing old beloved songs
Which no one cares for any more.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
Leonard Durso 