Breach cut in green-moss earth,
it steals a distant flake of sky.
White clouds emerge in mirror;
fallen moon shines below stairs.
translated by David Hinton
9th Century Chinese poetry
Inscribed on the Tower at Veneration Monastery by Tu Mu
Late-light shadow across thousand-mountain
snows. In cold spring, a hundred-foot tower.
I climb up alone, and then back down alone.
Who can manage such distances of the heart?
translated by David Hinton
Spring South of the Yangtze by Tu Mu
A thousand miles of oriole song, reds setting greens ablaze,
river villages with mountains for walls, wineshop flags, wind.
Of those four hundred eighty Southern Dynasty monasteries,
how many towers and terraces remain in this mist and rain?
translated by David Hinton
Egrets by Tu Mu
Robes of snow, crests of snow, and beaks of azure-jade,
they fish in shadowy streams. Then starting up into
flight, they leave emerald mountains for lit distances.
Pear blossoms, a tree-full, tumble in the evening wind.
translated by David Hinton
Willow Catkins by Hsueh T’ao
Flowers of the willow, light, fluffy by the second moon,
Sway wildly in spring breezes, tugging sleeves of passers-by.
They are by nature heartless things indeed,
Who just gave them to fly north and fly south.
translated by Eric W. Johnson
The Moon by Hsüeh T’ao
The crescent, tiny as the curtain hook;
The fan, woven on the Han loom, is round.
The slender image, its nature, to gain fullness–
Where else on earth is this seen?
translated by Eric W. Johnson
from Deva-like Barbarian: Lyric 1 by Wei Chuang
The night of our parting in the red tower is enough for sorrow;
By the fragrant lamp, the tasseled screen is but half rolled up.
As I leave the moon is just fading;
She says goodbye mixed with tears.
The guitar is ornamented with gold and kingfisher feathers;
From its strings come the caroling cries of orioles.
Urging me to return soon,
She is like a flower in the window!
translated by Lois M. Fusek
from Sand of Silk-washing Stream: Lyric 3 by Wei Chuang
I wake in sad reverie; the moon is slating over the mountain;
A single lamp shines on the wall from behind the window curtain;
The beautiful one lives in a high apartment in the small tower.
I think of her lovely jade-like face–how shall I compare it?
A branch of cold plum blossoms in the spring snow.
The fragrant mist of her body is like the gathered clouds of dawn.
translated by Lois M. Fusek
Presented to a Lady Within the Palace by Chang Yu
Forbidden gate, palace trees, a moon’s flitting trace,
Seductive eyes gaze askance at night-nesting egrets.
Leaning, she plucks her jade hairpin in the lamplight,
Pricks apart the ruddy flame to save a flying moth.
translated by Ronald C. Miao
Parrot by Po Chü-yi
Talk all day and then keep silent;
Midnight, still restless on its perch.
Body imprisoned for its bright plumage;
Heart embittered by understanding.
Dusk arouses thoughts of return to nest;
Springtime multiplies mating calls.
Who can break this cage open,
Released, to joy in flight and song?
translated by Irving Y. Lo
Leonard Durso 