poetry

New Year’s Eve: Spending the Night Outside Ch’ang-chou City by Su Tung-p’o

/ zdunno03 / 3 Comments

From the traveler, singing; from the field, weeping–both spur sorrow.
Fires in the distance, dipping stars move slowly toward extinction.
Am I waiting up for New Year’s Eve? Aching eyes won’t close.
No one here speaks my dialect: I long for home.
A double quilt and my feet still cold–the frost must be heavy;
my head feels light–I washed it and the hair is getting thin.
I thank the flickering torch that doesn’t refuse
to keep me company on a lonely boat through the night.

translated by Burton Watson

to the Tune: Happy Events Approaching by Chu Tun-ju

/ zdunno03 / 4 Comments

Shaking my head, I left the world of red dust,
No longer caring when to be sober, when drunk.
My livelihood–the green grass cloak and the straw hat;
I’m used to wearing frost and braving snow.

When night falls, the wind settles and the fishing line lies idle.
Above and below is the new moon.
For a thousand miles, water and sky are the same color.
Watch the single wild goose appear and disappear!

translated by James J.Y. Liu

The Optimist by Nazim Hikmet

/ zdunno03 / Leave a comment

as a kid he didn’t pluck the wings off flies
tie tin cans to cats’ tails
lock beetles in matchboxes
or stomp anthills
he grew up
and all those things were done to him
I sat at his deathbed
he said to read him a poem
about the sun and the sea
nuclear reactors and satellites
the greatness of humanity

translated by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk

Falling Leaves by Nazim Hikmet

/ zdunno03 / 8 Comments

zdunno03's avatarLeonard Durso

I’ve read about falling leaves in fifty thousand poems novels
and so on
watched leaves falling in fifty thousand movies
seen leaves fall fifty thousand times
fall drift and rot
felt their dead shush shush fifty thousand times
underfoot in my hands on my fingertips
but I’m still touched by falling leaves
especially those falling on boulevards
especially chestnut leaves
and if kids are around
if it’s sunny
and I’ve got good news for friendship
especially if my heart doesn’t ache
and I believe my love loves me
especially if it’s a day I feel good about people
I’m touched by falling leaves
especially those falling on boulevards
especially chestnut leaves

View original post