Those who have relied on poetry for a living
Since ancient times have never gotten fat.
This old man, hungry from poetry, is not bitter,
But your suffering tears fall like rain.
translated by Stephen Owen
T’ang Dynasty
Boudoir Feelings by Li Shang-yin
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
from A Spring Day in the Countryside by Wen T’ing-yün
The feeling of separation, what is there to say
But that the heart is an endless river of stars.
translated by William R. Schultz
About Geese by Li Shang-yin
Asleep on the sand, dozing on the water, they form a flock.
Jagged shoreline, fading light, clouds over distant bank.
They don’t know in their heart the plight of the peacock:
The female fettered, forever apart from the male
translated by Eugene Eoyang & Irving Y. Lo
Spending the Night at Yunmen Temple Pavilion by Sun T’i
At Incense Pavilion below East Peak
the flowers in the mist were from another world
I held up a lantern on a deep mountain night
and pulled back the curtain on a lakeland fall
the swans stayed behind on the walls
the Dipper and the Ox spent the night in the window
the road to Heaven seemed so close again
I dreamed I was traveling with clouds
translated by Red Pine
Presented to Wang Lun by Li Po
Li Po on board, ready to push off,
suddenly heard the tramping and singing on the bank.
Peach Flower Pool a thousand feet deep
is shallower than the love of Wang Lun who sees me off.
translated by Burton Watson
Thinking of East Mountain by Li Po
It’s been so long since I headed for East Mountain—
how many times have the roses bloomed?
White clouds have scattered themselves away—
and this bright moon—whose house is it setting on?
translated by Burton Watson
Spring Night in Lo-yang–Hearing a Flute by Li Po
In what house, the jade flute that sends these dark notes drifting,
scattering on the spring wind that fills Lo-yang?
Tonight if we should hear the willow-breaking song,
who could help but long for the gardens of home?
translated by Burton Watson
note: people break off willow wands to give as gifts when parting.
At Yellow Crane Tower Taking Leave of Meng Hao-jan as He Sets Off for Kuang-ling by Li Po
My old friend takes leave of the west at Yellow Crane Tower,
in the misty third-month blossoms goes downstream toYang-chou.
The far-off shape of his lone sail disappears in the blue-green void,
and all I see is the long river flowing to the edge of the sky.
translated by Burton Watson
Aboard a Boat, Reading Yüan Chen’s Poems by Po Chü-i
I pick up your scroll of poems, read in front of the lamp;
the poems are ended, the lamp gutters, the sky not yet light.
My eyes hurt, I put out the lamp, go on sitting in the dark;
a sound of waves blown up by head winds, sloshing against the boat.
translated by Burton Watson
Leonard Durso 