Azure heaven pinched between Wu Mountains,
riverwater keeps streaming down like this,
and with riverwater cascading so suddenly
away, we’ll never reach that azure heaven.
Three mornings we start up Huang-niu Gorge,
and three nights find we’ve gone nowhere.
Three mornings and three nights: for once
I’ve forgotten my hair turning white as silk.
translated by David Hinton
8th Century Chinese poetry
Listening to a Monk’s Ch’in Depths by Li Po
Carrying a ch’in cased in green silk, a monk
descended from O-mei Mountain in the west.
When he plays, even in a few first notes,
I hear the pines of ten thousand valleys,
and streams rinse my wanderer’s heart clean.
Echoes linger among temple frost-fall bells,
night coming unnoticed in emerald mountains,
autumn clouds banked up, gone dark and deep.
translated by David Hinton
Written on the Wall While Drunk at Wang’s House North of the Han River by Li Po
I’m like some partridge or quail—
going south, then flying lazily north.
And now I’ve come to find you here,
a little wine returns me to the moon.
translated by David Hinton
A Friend Stays The Night by Li Po
Rinsing sorrows of a thousand forevers
away, we linger out a hundred jars of wine,
the clear night’s clarity filling small talk,
a lucid moon keeping us awake. And after
we’re drunk, we sleep in empty mountains,
all heaven our blanket, earth our pillow.
translated by David Hinton
Thoughts in Night Quiet by Li Po
Seeing moonlight here at my bed
and thinking it was frost on the ground,
I look up, gaze at the mountain moon,
then back, dreaming of my old home.
translated by David Hinton
Teasing Tu Fu by Li Po
Here on the summit of Fan-k’o Mountain, it’s Tu Fu
under a midday sun sporting his huge farmer’s hat.
How is it you’ve gotten so thin since we parted?
Must be all those poems you’ve been suffering over.
translated by David Hinton
To Send Far Away by Li Po
So much beauty home–flowers filled the house.
So much beauty gone–nothing but this empty bed,
your embroidered quilt rolled up, never used.
It’s been three years. Your scent still lingers,
your scent gone and yet never ending.
But now you’re gone, never to return,
thoughts of you yellow leaves falling,
white dew glistening on green moss.
translated by Daviid Hinton
Avoiding Farewell in a Chin-ling Wineshop by Li Po
Breezes filling the inn with willow-blossom scents,
elegant girls serve wine, enticing us to try it.
Chin-ling friends come to see me off, I try to leave
but cannot, so we linger out another cup together.
I can’t tell anymore. Which is long and which short,
the river flowing east or thoughts farewell brings on?
translated by David Hinton
Crooked River Meditation by Tu Fu
Each falling petal diminishes spring.
Ten thousand of them sadden me.
Spring flowers pale, and I grieve,
and ease my remorse with wine.
Kingfishers nest in the temple hall.
A stone unicorn adorns a royal grave.
Taking my pleasures where I find them,
I fill my cup again.
translated by Sam Hamill
After Waiting for Censor Yuan and Professor Li at Tungte Temple, When Neither Arrives, I Send Each a Poem by Wei Ying-wu
The courtyard trees are suddenly dark
why didn’t my old friend come
it must be because he hates the heat
and spends his days on a frost-covered terrace
The glory of office comes with its burdens
retired life too means less time together
I watched for you from the upper story
until the blue ridges were almost black
translated by Red Pine
Leonard Durso 