Who could have knit the willow’s belts?
The flower buds are unwilling to open yet.
Only a pair of dancing butterflies are left;
Not a single person has come here.
I half unfold the dragon-whisker mat,
And lightly pour into the horse-brain cup.
Every year the arrival of spring is uncertain;
I have been deceived by the early blooming plum!

translated by James J.Y. Liu

Wishing to disperse for once the sorrows of a lifetime,
I mount the Yüeh-yang Tower above the Tung-t’ing lake.
Over ten thousand miles I could have sailed in high spirits,
But alas, there are dragons who know how to upset the boat!

traslated by James J.Y. Liu

A hanging screen, a half-rolled-up curtain;
The pillows are cold, the quilts still fragrant.
Why does my soul, for the sake of remembrance,
Fly in a dream across the Hsiao and the Hsiang?

translated  by James J.Y. Liu

All spring, my sorrows grew like lotus leaves.
Now they wither as my autumn sadness grows.

Grief is as long and wide as life.
Watch the autumn river. Listen to it flow.

translated by Sam Hamill

I drag my heavy heart
up to these dazzling heights:

this beautiful, beautiful sunset!
And then the onrushing night.

translated by Sam Hamill

Literature endures like the universal spirit,
And its breath becomes a part of the vitals of all men.

translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu

You ask how long before I come. Still no date set.
The night rains on Mount Pa swell the autumn pool.
When shall we, side by side, trim a candle at the West Window,
And talk back to the time of the night rains on Mount Pa?

translated by A.C. Graham

Red dew on floral chamber, white honeycomb–
Yellow bee and purple butterfly, both in disarray,
At spring’s casement, awakened from a dream of love:
They share the same bed, and do not know it.

translated by Eugene Eoyang & Irving Y. Lo