A fisherman’s taking his boat deep across the lake.
My old eyes trace his path all the way, his precise
wavering in and out of view. Then it gets strange:
suddenly he’s a lone goose balanced on a bent reed.
translated by David Hinton
Chinese poet
The Autumn Brook by Hsüeh T’ao
It has turned crystal clear lately
And flows away like a ribbon of smoke
With a music like a ten strınged zither.
The sound penetrates to my pillow,
And turns my mind to past loves,
And won’t let me sleep for melancholy.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth & Ling Chung
Outside My Office, Wandering In Moonlight by Wei Ying-wu
Outside this office, night such luminous depths,
the lovely moon’s a delight wandering with me.
Descending across the river, it comes halfway
adrift on dew-tinged air, then suddenly startles
autumn, scattering color through open forests,
scrawling its disk on the current’s utter clarity.
And reaching mind, it bestows boundless light
all silver-pure azure eluding us to perfection.
translated by David Hinton
Cloud by Tu Mu
I see a cloud at day’s end and just can’t look away.
It has no mind at all, no mind and surely no talent:
a sad flake of bright jade radiant with color, drifting
ten thousand miles of clear sky, nowhere it began.
translated by David Hinton
Listening to Master Yuan Play the Ch’in in Chaokuo Quarter by Wei Ying-wu
On bamboo leaves and rooftops the autumn dew is clear
vermilion strings and jade harmonics multiply old feelings
Calling Crow and Departing Cranes are tunes I somehow recognize
containing as they do the sounds of a breaking heart
translated by Red Pine
Cold Food Day: To My Cousins by Wei Ying-wu
The fire ban darkens an auspicious day
I still feel the pain of our parting
seeing these flower-covered fields
reminds me of the trails of Tuling
when will we ride together again
I’m feeling much older today
translated by Red Pine
NOTE: Cold Food Day occurred 150 days after Winter Solstice (late spring). This is in the commentary by Red Pine.
Boating on South Lake with Elder Brother Yuan Liu by Wei Ying-wu
Taking time off in the enervating heat
we drifted in a skiff along the city moat
a light wind blew open our robes
a flute echoed through the woods
thin clouds darkened the water
a fine rain cooled the lotus-scented air
rather than pour out our cares
we raised our cups to the flowers
translated by Red Pine
At Yungting Temple Pi-ch’iang Happily Arrives during the Night by Wei Ying-wu
You came with New Year’s greetings
walking here alone in the bitter cold
knocking on a bamboo temple gate at night
covered with snow from your hike through the hills
after starting a fire deep in my stove
and closing the door to my empty room
we shared a gourd full of wine
and didn’t speak of all the things that went wrong
translated by Red Pine
Pond in a Bowl by Tu Mu
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
Rain On The River by Lu Yu
In the fog we drift hither
And yon over the dark waters.
At last our little boat finds
Shelter under a willow bank.
At midnight I am awake,
Heavy with wine. The smoky
Lamp is still burning. The rain
Is still sighing in the bamboo
Thatch of the cabin of the boat.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Leonard Durso 