Her hands of white jade by a window of snow
Are glimmering on a golden-fretted harp–
And to draw the quick eye of Chou Yü,
She touches a wrong note now and then.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
T’ang Dynasty
A Sigh From A Staircase Of Jade by Li Po (Li Bai)
Her jade-white staircase is cold with dew;
Her silk soles are wet, she lingered there so long. . .
Behind her closed casement, why is she still waiting,
Watching through its crystal pane the glow of the autumn moon?
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
from Entering Tung-t’ing Lake by Tu Fu
Returning, waves high and south winds strong, I
Fear sunsets. But tonight, a dazzling lake
Stretches into distant heavens–as if any moment,
On this raft of immortals, I will drift away.
translated by David Hinton
Autumn Spring by Hsüeh T’ao
The cold hue newly clears, a belt of haze;
The mysterious sound gurgles afar, the ten-stringed lute.
Endlessly to my pillow they come, to draw thoughts of love,
Not letting this pensive soul half the night to sleep.
translated by Eric W. Johnson
Farewell to a Friend by Hsüeh T’ao
The water country’s reeds and rushes, night, covered with frost;
The moon’s coldness, the mountains’ cast share a bleak, pale blue.
Who can say, from this night on, a thousand li away,
My dreams of you, dim as the distant frontier?
translated by Eric W. Johnson
from Feng-ya Song by Tu Fu
How long before I’ve grown feathers and wings
and settled beside you at the end of flight?
translated by David Hinton
Conversation in the Mountains by Li Po (Li Bai)
If you were to ask me why I dwell among green mountains,
I should laugh silently; my soul serene.
The peach blossom follows the moving water;
There is another heaven and earth beyond the world of men.
translated by Robert Payne
Parting at a Wine-shop in Nan-king by Li Po
A wind, bringing willow-cotton, sweetens the shop,
And a girl from Wu, pouring wine, urges me to share it
With my comrades of the city who are here to see me off;
And as each of them drains his cup, I say to him in parting,
Oh, go and ask the river running to the east
If it can travel faster than a friend’s love!
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
from Hard Roads in Shu by Li Po (Li Bai)
. . .Though the City of Silk be delectable, I would rather turn home quickly.
Such traveling is harder than scaling the blue sky. . .
But I still face westward with a dreary moan.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
Upon Seeing the Fireflies by Tu Fu
On Witch Mountain the fireflies flit in the autumn night:
Cleverly they enter the open lattice to alight on my clothes.
Suddenly I am startled at the coldness of my lute and books in the room;
Then I confuse the fireflies’ light with the sparse stars over the eaves.
Rounding the well’s railings, they come in an endless file;
Passing by chance the flower petals, they gambol and glow.
On this cold riverbank, my hair white, I feel sad when I look at them–
By this time next year, shall I have returned home?
translated by Wu-chi Liu
Leonard Durso 