no sound
quite so forlorn
as a phone
not ringing
at 4 o’clock
in the morning
loneliness
from Alone at Night at My Monastic Residence: To Secretary Ts’ui by Wei Ying-wu
I didn’t realize the year was so late
or living apart was so lonely
translated by Red Pine
Alone by Chu Shu Chen
I raise the curtain and go out
To watch the moon. Leaning on the
Balcony, I breathe the evening
Wind from the west, heavy with the
Odors of decaying Autumn.
The rose jade of the river
Blends with the green jade of the void.
Hidden in the grass a cricket chirps.
Hidden in the sky storks cry out.
I turn over and over in
My heart the memories of
Other days. Tonight as always
There is no one to share my thoughts.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
On The Gate Tower At Yo-chou by Tu Fu
I had always heard of Lake Tung-t’ing–
And now at last I have climbed to this tower.
With Wu country to the east of me and Ch’u to the south,
I can see heaven and earth endlessly floating.
. . .But no word has reached me from kin or friends.
I am old and sick and alone with my boat.
North of this wall there are wars and mountains–
And here by the rail how can I help crying?
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
A Night at a Tavern by Tu Mu
Solitary at a tavern,
I am shut in with loneliness and grief.
Under the cold lamp, I brood on the past;
I am kept awake by a lost wildgoose.
. . .Roused at dawn from a misty dream,
I read, a year later, news from home—
And I remember the moon like smoke on the river
And a fisher-boat moored there, under my door.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
In Exile by Li Shang-yin
A spring day
here at the world’s end
the world’s end where once again
the sun is going down
the oriole’s cry–
if it had tears
it could water the blossoms
on top of the trees.
translated by David Young
Reflections at a River Tower by Chao Ku
Alone on a river tower my thoughts full of sorrow
the moonlight like the water the water like the sky
where is the person with whom I shared the moon
the view isn’t quite the same as last year
translated by Red Pine
Cricket by No Ch’on-myong
Because my shelter must not be known,
because my poorness must not show,
in hiding through the night I cry.
For somewhere someone weeps like me
I must soak more in the moonlight,
retain the sorrow of my night again
there behind the stone steps.
translated by Ko Won
tanka 4 by Ono no Komachi
So lonely am I
My body is a floating weed
Severed at the roots
Were there water to entice me
I would follow it, I think.
translated by Donald Keene
untitled Chinese poem 2 by anonymous poet
I cross the river to pluck hibiscus,
In the orchid marsh, many scented plants.
I pluck, but whom should I give them to?
For my love resides in a distant land.
Turning my head, I look toward home,
Along that vast and endless road.
Our hearts are one, yet we dwell apart,
Worrying and grieving till we grow old.
translated by Dell R. Hales
Leonard Durso 