I left the Yiching in the woods
now I drift with the gulls by the stream
among the singers of the ways of Ch’u
to whom do you most often turn
translated by Red Pine
posted ahead of time for my good friend Jeff Schwaner’s reading pleasure
8th Century Chinese poetry
Spending the Night at Yunmen Temple Pavilion by Sun T’I
At Incense Pavilion below East Peak
the flowers in the mist were from another world
I held up a lantern on a deep mountain night
and pulled back the curtain on a lakeland fall
the swans stayed behind on the walls
the Dipper and the Ox spent the night in the window
the road to Heaven seemed so close again
I dreamed I was traveling with clouds
translated by Red Pine
Chuchou’s West Stream by Wei Ying-wu
I love unnoticed plants that grow beside a stream
orioles singing overhead somewhere in a tree
at dusk the current quickens fed by springtime rain
I pull myself across an unmanned country ferry
translated by Red Pine
Thoughts on a Quiet Night by Li Pai (Li Po)
Before my bed the light is so bright
it looks like a layer of frost
lifting my head I gaze at the moon
lying back down I think of home
translated by Red Pine
Thinking of My Home in Ch’ang-an While Traveling with the Army on the Ninth by Ts’en Shen
If only I could climb somewhere
but no one sends me wine
my poor distant garden of mums
blooms by a battlefield now
translated by Red Pine
Setting Sail on the Yang-tsze by Wei Ying-wu (written to Secretary Yuan)
Wistful, away from my friends and kin,
Through mist and fog I float and float
With the sail that bears me toward Lo-yang.
In Yang-chou trees linger bell-notes of evening,
Marking the day and the place of our parting. . . .
When shall we meet again and where?
. . .Destiny is a boat on the waves,
Borne to and fro, beyond our will.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
On Meeting A Messenger To The Capital by Ts’en Ts’an
It’s a long way home, a long way east.
I am old and my sleeve is wet with tears.
We meet on horseback. I have no means of writing.
Tell them three words: “He is safe.”
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
Yuan Tan-chiu of the East Mountain by Li Po (Li Bei)
You, the dweller of the East Mountain,
You, the lover of the beauty of hills and valleys,
In the green spring you sleep in the empty woodland,
And hardly rise in the broad daylight.
The pine wind shakes your garment,
And the stony brook cleanses your soul.
How I envy you, who, unperturbed,
Are pillowed high in a mist of emerald!
translated by Shigeyoshi Obata
Taking Leave of a Friend by Li Po (Li Bai)
Here at the city wall
green mountains to the north
white water winding east
we part
one tumbleweed
ten thousand miles to go
high clouds
wandering thoughts
sunset
old friendship
you wave, moving off
your horse
whinnies
twice
translated by David Young
Surprised by Autumn on the Fen by Su T’ing
The North Wind blows white clouds
a thousand miles and across the Fen
the hopes of my heart shudder and fall
the sounds of autumn are hard to bear
translated by Red Pine
Leonard Durso 