Pay attention now:
a heart that’s all by itself
is not a heart.
translated by Robert Bly
poetry
Don’t Come To Me With The Entire Truth by Olav H. Hauge
Don’t come to me with the entire truth.
Don’t bring the ocean if I feel thirsty,
nor heaven if I ask for light;
but bring a hint, some dew, a particle,
as birds carry only drops away from water,
and the wind a grain of salt.
translated by Robert Bly
Lament for Peony Flowers by Bai Juyi
I grieve for the red peony flower by the steps.
By this evening two branches have withered.
Tomorrow morning wind will blow away the rest.
At night I keep sad watch, hold flame over the dying red.
translated by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping
Black-Uniform Lane by Liu Yuxi: THERE IS A MISTAKE IN THE TITLE OF THIS POEM. IT SHOULD BE Bamboo Branch Song. Same poet, though. And I swear I wasn’t drinking..
Willows are green, green and the river water flat.
I hear a man on the river singing me songs
and see sun on my east, rain on my west.
The sun is shying off, but I feel his shine.
translated by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping
On Laozi by Bai Juyi
“The ignorant speak, but the sage stay silent.”
I heard this saying from Laozi.
But if Laozi knew the Way,
why did he write a book of five thousand characters?
translated by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping
Moon by Xue Tao
Its spirit leans like a thin hook
or opens round like a Han-loom fan,
slender shadow whose nature is to be full,
seen everywhere in the human world.
translated by Tony Barnstone & Chou Ping
In the Style of Han Shan and Shih Te, Two Selections: Poem 1 by Wang An-shih
Had I been an ox or horse
I would rejoice to see grass and beans;
If, on the other hand, I were a woman,
the sight of men would please me.
But if I were really me
I would always settle for what I be.
If liking and dislike keep you upset
surely you are being used:
Big man, with all your dignity,
don’t mistake what you have for what you are.
translated by Jan W. Walls
In the Mountains by Wang An-shih
I follow the moon into the mountains,
I search for clouds to accompany me home.
A spring morning, dew on the flowers:
and the fragrance clings to my gown.
translated by Jan W. Walls
Hastily Composed on the Mo-ling Road by Wang An-shih
The harvest ripe, the farmers rejoice;
in the autumn wind the traveler alone grieves.
On and on winds this crooked road
and a homeward horse in the slanting sun.
translated by Jan. W. Walls
After Finishing a Poem by Chia Tao
Those two lines cost me three years:
I chant them once and get two more, of tears.
Friend, if you don’t like them. . .
I’ll go home, and lie down,
in the ancient mountain autumn.
translated by J.P. Seaton
Leonard Durso 