My old friend takes off from the Yellow Crane Tower,
In smoke-flower third month down to Yangchou.
A lone sail, a distant shade, lost in the blue horizon.
Only the long Yangtze is seen flowing into the sky.
translated by Wai-lim Yip
T’ang Dynasty
To Li Po on a Winter Day by Tu Fu
Alone in my secluded hut,
I think of you all day, Li Po.
Whenever I read of friendship,
I remember your friendly poems.
Harsh winds tatter your old clothes
as you search for the wine of endless life.
Unable to go with you, I remember only
that old hermitage we’d hoped to make a home.
translated by Sam Hamill
Stayover At Pei-ku Shan by Wang Wan
The road reaches beyond mountains.
The boat moves on the green water.
Tides now calm: two banks widen.
Wind stills: one sail straight.
Sun grows from sea: the night tatters.
Upon the river, spring: the year ages.
A letter from home: where to send to?
With the returning geese to Lo-yang.
translated by Wai-lim Yip
Bamboo Grove by Wang Wei
I sit alone among dark bamboos,
Strum the lute and let loose my voice.
Grove so deep, no one knows.
The moon visits and shines on me.
translated by Wai-lim Yip
To See A Friend Off by Wang Wei
Dismount and drink this wine.
Where to? I ask.
At odds with the world:
Return to rest by the South Hill.
Go. Go. Do not ask again.
Endless, the white clouds.
translated by Wai-lim Yip
Autumn Night: A Letter Sent To Ch’iu by Wei Ying-wu
Thinking of you, in autumn night,
Strolling, chanting the cool air.
Empty mountain: pine cones fall.
Secluded man: staying up, still?
translated by Wai-lim Yip
Hearing the Flute in the City of Loyang in a Spring Night by Li Po
Whose jade-flute is this, notes flying invisibly
Scatter into spring winds, filling City of Loyang?
Hearing the “Break-a-Willow-Twig” tonight,
Who can withhold the surge of thoughts of home?
ytranslated by Wai-lim Yip
