A bridge flies away through a wild mist,
Yet here are the rocks and the fisherman’s boat.
Oh, if only this river of floating peach-petals
Might lead me at last to the mythical cave!
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
T’ang Dynasty
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
Looking At The Moon And Thinking Of One Far Away by Chang Chiu-ling (Zhang Jialing)
The moon, grown full now over the sea,
Brightening the whole of heaven,
Brings to separated hearts
The long thoughtfulness of night. . .
It is no darker though I blow out the candle.
It is no warmer though I put on my coat.
So I leave my message with the moon
And turn to my bed, hoping for dreams.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
At Wang Ch’ang-ling’s Retreat by Ch’ang Chien
Here, beside a clear deep lake,
You live accompanied by clouds;
Or soft through the pine the moon arrives
To be your own pure-hearted friend.
You rest under thatch in the shadow of your flowers,
Your dewy herbs flourish in their bed of moss.
Let me leave the world. Let me alight, like you,
On your western mountain with phoenixes and cranes.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
A Buddist Retreat Behind Broken-Mountain Temple by Ch’ang Chien
In the pure morning, near the old temple,
Where early sunlight points the tree-tops,
My path has wound, through a sheltered hollow
Of boughs and flowers, to a Buddhist retreat.
Here birds are alive with mountain-light,
And the mind of man touches peace in a pool,
And a thousand sounds are quieted
By the breathing of a temple-bell.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
A Night-Mooring Near Maple Bridge by Chang Chi (Zhang Ji)
While I watch the moon go down, a crow caws through the frost;
Under the shadows of maple-trees a fisherman moves with his torch;
And I hear, from beyond Su-chou, from the temple on Cold Mountain,
Ringing for me, here in my boat, the midnight bell.
translated by Witter Bynner & Kiang Kang-hu
Loneliness by Tu Fu
A hawk hovers in air.
Two while gulls float on the stream.
Soaring with the wind, it is easy
to drop and seize
Birds who foolishly drift with the current.
Where the dew sparkles in the grass,
The spider’s web waits for its prey.
The processes of nature resemble the business of men.
I stand alone with ten thousand sorrows.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Banquet At THe Tso Family Manor by Tu Fu
The windy forest is checkered
By the light of the setting,
Waning moon. I tune the lute,
Its strings are moist with dew.
The brook flows in the darkness
Below the flower path. The thatched
Roof is crowned with constellations.
As we write the candles burn short.
Our wits grow sharp as swords while
The wine goes round. When the poem
Contest is ended, someone
Sings a song of the South. And
I think of my little boat,
And long to be on my way.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Dawn Over The Mountains by Tu Fu
The city is silent,
Sound drains away,
Buildings vanish in the light of dawn,
Cold sunlight comes on the highest peak,
The thick dust of night
Clings to the hills,
The earth opens,
The river boats are vague,
The sky still–
The sound of falling leaves.
A huge doe comes to the garden gate,
Lost from the herd,
Seeking its fellows.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Tune: “A Stretch of Cloud over Mount Wu” by Li Hsün
An old temple leans against the green hillside,
The Traveling Palace nestles next to the emerald flow.
Sounds of waters, and the sheen of the mountain locked in the painted tower.
Past memories send my thoughts far away.
Morning rain and clouds return at dusk,
Mist and flowers, in spring as in autumn.
Why should the screeching of the monkeys get so close to the solitary boat?
The traveler has enough sorrows of his own.
translated by Hellmut Wilhelm
Leonard Durso 