oh what joy
an extra piece
of chocolate cake
a child’s smile
laughter
in the morning
joy
smile like a child
you smile
like a child
a summer morning
no school
all day play
ice cream
and chocolate bars
life waiting
your smile
on hope
between joy
and despair
is hope
limping along
toward tomorrow
Casual Poem on a Spring Day by Ch’eng Hao
The clouds are thin the wind is light the sun is nearly overhead
past the flowers through the willows down along the stream
people don’t see the joy in my heart
they think I’m wasting time or acting like a child
translated by Red Pine
A Hundred Days, Free to Go by Su Tung-p’o
A hundred days, free to go, and it’s almost spring;
for the years left, pleasure will be my chief concern.
Out the gate, I do a dance, wind blows my face;
our galloping horses race along as magpies cheer.
I face the wine cup and it’s all a dream,
pick up a poem brush, already inspired.
Why try to fix the blame for trouble past?
Years now I’ve stolen posts I never should have had.
*written on his release from prison
translated by Burton Watson
Drunk on T’ung-Kuan Mountain, a Quatrain by Li Po (Li Bai)
I love this T’ung-kuan joy. A thousand
years, and still I’d never leave here.
It makes me dance, my swirling sleeves
sweeping all Five-Pine Mountain clean.
translated by David Hinton
Leonard Durso 