All those tender nights upstairs in the capital, hearts content
together—I never guessed my pure-spirit love would leave.
Now dozing and waking, I don’t mention drifting clouds gone
who knows where. The lamp burns low. A wild moth flutters.
translated by David Hinton
Yü Hsüan-chi
Farewell by Yü Hsüan-chi
All those tender nights upstairs in the capital, hearts content
together—I never guessed my pure-spirit love would leave.
Now, dozing and waking, I don’t mention drifting clouds gone
who knows where. The lamp burns low. A wild moth flutters.
translated by David Hinton
Gazing Out in Grief, Sent to Adept-Serene by Yü Hsüan-chi
Maple leaves color a thousand, fill ten thousand branches.
Evening sails creep through a bridge’s drowned reflection.
Longing for you, my heart is like this west-river current
flowing east day and night—never ceasing, never ceasing.
translated by David Hinton
Staying in the Mountains in Summer by Yü Hsüan-chi
I’ve moved here to the Immortal’s place:
Flowers everywhere we didn’t plant before.
The courtyard trees are bent like clothes-horses.
At the feast, winecups float in a new spring.
Dark balcony. Path through deep bamboo.
Long summer dress. Confusion of books.
I sing in the moonlight and ride a painted boat,
Trusting the wind to blow me home again.
translated by Geoffrey Waters
On the River by Yü Hsüan-chi
The Great River wraps an arm
angling around Wu-ch’ang
Parrot Island faces the gates
of ten thousand homes.
Spring sleep in a pleasure boat
unfulfilled at dawn–
In dreams a butterfly
still seeking blossoms.
translated by Jan W. Walls
To Tzu-an by Yü Hsüan-chi
A thousand goblets at the farewell feast
can’t dilute my sorrow,
my heart at separation is twisted
in a hundred unyielding knots.
Tender orchids wilt and wither,
return to the garden of spring;
willow trees, here and there,
moor travelers’ boats.
In meeting and parting I lament
the unsettled clouds;
love and affection should learn from the river
in flowing on and on.
I know we won’t meet again
in the season of blossoms,
and I won’t sit by quietly
drunk in my chamber.
translated by Jan W. Walls
Leonard Durso 