watching you
cross your legs
always caused a shudder
up my back,
shortness
in my breath
and a longing
in my fingertips
Empty House by Yuan Chen
I leave my empty house at dawn
and ride to my empty office.
I fill the day with busywork.
At nightfall, back to my empty house.
Moonlght seeps through the cracks.
My wick has burned to ash.
My heart lies cold inHsien-yang Road,
under the wheels of a hearse.
translated by Sam Hamill
Farewell Song by Ch’in Kuan
Faint clouds caress the mountains
where blue sky enters dry grass.
From the watchtower, a lone horn sounds.
Suddenly, I want to stop my little boat
and share a farewell cup of wine.
Our time together was a glimpse of paradise.
But it is futile to remember—
only the mist remains.
translated by Sam Hamill
From a Dream by Ch’in Kuan
Rain brings flowers to this road each spring,
flowers to paint the hills with colors.
I hike along a secret steam
Among a thousand yellow orioles.
Clouds take shapes of dragon and snake,
soaring, turning in the air.
I lie in wisteria shade, so drunk
I don’t even know directions.
translated by Sam Hamill
other plans
light filters in
this new morning
after wind after rain
the night before
I put aside the book
I was reading
and try to rise
but the cat
firmly anchored
in my lap
refuses to let me go
ah life
like this cat
has other plans
for me
too
“We know the price of everything. We should recognize… the value of everything”
from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
“We know the price of everything. We should recognize… the value of everything”
Sauli Niinisto, President of Finland
Letter Smuggled in a Fish by Yuan Chen
Your letter unfolds and unfolds forever.
I flatten it with my hands to read:
tearstrains, trarstrains and a trace of rouge
where it must have touched your cheek.
translated by Sam Hamill
“We commit two wrongs when we fail to right a wrong”
from Douglas Moore’s Art of Quotation
“We commit two wrongs when we fail to right a wrong”
Cesare Pavese, Italian, poet, novelist, literary critic
Image: Chaozzy Lin
a third translation of Reading Yuan Chen on a Boat by Po Chu-i
By candlelight, I read your poems.
It is almost dawn when I finish.
I rub my weary eyes
beside the guttering candle.
I sit motionless
in the predawn dark,
listening to the wind-driven waves
lapping at the bow.
translated by Sam Hamill
Dreaming of My Wife by Yuan Chen
The candle burned out, my boat is windblown.
You ask about my southern sailing:
I sat awake all night in silence,
waves pounding on the lake.
translated by Sam Hamill
Leonard Durso 