East Ridge by Wang An-shih

Together we climb to this East Ridge lookout on New Year’s Eve
and gaze at the Star River, its length lighting distant forests.

Earth’s ten thousand holes cry and moan. That wind’s our ruin,
and in a thousand seething waves, there’s no trace of a heart.

translated by David Hinton

Gazing North by Wang An-shih

Hair whiter still, I ache to see those long-ago northlands,
but keep to this refuge:goosefoot cane, windblown trees.

Pity the new moon–all that bright beauty and for whom?
It’s dusk. Countless mountains face each other in sorrow.

translated by David Hinton