237 replies to this topic

[Jake Holman]

Staying Overnight in a Mountain Village

After hiking and hiking, I stay overnight in a deep village
with dogs and chickens noisy like a market in a good year.
The whole family is delighted to have me visit.
They scoop a pond dry with buckets to gather me fish.

--Guan Xiu (832-912)

Translated by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping


《宿深村》貫休

　　行行一宿深村裏，雞犬豐年鬧如市。

　　黃昏見客闔家喜，月下取魚戽塘水




Painting of a fish, Zhu Da (also known as Bada Shanren) (1625-1705)

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 09:56 AM.

[Jake Holman]

From "Two Poems Written on the Wall of a Villager's Cottage in Late Spring"

#1

Quiet by the brushwood gate. A fragrance of cooked rice.
Spring rain turns to sun. Smoke rises from the mountain village.
Misty flowers in the courtyard. Crystal water flows and sings.
A young boy wails. He wants the skylark in the trees.

--Guan Xiu (832-912)

Translated by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping (slightly modified)


《春晚書山家屋壁二首》貫休

　　柴門寂寂黍飯馨，山家煙火春雨晴。

　　庭花濛濛水泠泠，小兒啼索樹上鶯。





Asian Skylark

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 09:57 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Roaming in the Taiping Mountains

A craggy bluff splits the countenance of heaven.
A labyrinth of trees blots out the face of the sun.
A shadowy stream plummets into spring verdure.
The cold peaks retain a cloak of summer snow.

--Kong Zhigui (447-501)

Kong Zhigui was a solitary man, reclusive by nature, who said that his greatest pleasure in life was drinking alone while listening to the croaking of the frogs in his garden


《游太平山》孔稚珪

石險天貌分。林交日容缺。陰澗落春榮。寒岩留夏雪。





Travellers among Mountains and Streams, Fan Kuan (c.990-c.1130)

Edited by Jake Holman, 13 July 2007 - 04:05 PM.

[Jake Holman]

Question and Answer in the Mountains

You ask me why I live in these green mountains--
I smile without reply, my heart at peace.
Peach blossoms on the flowing water drift far away.
There is another heaven and earth beyond the everyday world.

--Li Bai (701-762)


《山中問答》李白

　　問余何意棲碧山，笑而不答心自閑。

　　桃花流水窅然去，別有天地非人間。





A Thousand li of Rivers and Mountains (detail), Wang Ximeng (c.1096-c.1120)

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:00 AM.

[Jake Holman]

From "Eighteen Midnight Songs" (#12)

I wash my white hands in the golden basin,
Burn incense and chant a prayer to the Buddha.
What do I wish for my next life?
To be united with my love in one body.

--Chao Cai (Woman Poet, born c.770)

"Midnight", or Ziye was the name of a famous courtesan who lived in Nanjing in the 4th century. A group of love poems was attributed to her, and many later poets wrote poems in imitation of her style.


《子夜歌十八首》晁采

金盆盥素手，焚香誦普門。來生何所願，與郎為一身。





Buddhist Devotee, Mural in the Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, High Tang Period (713-765)

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:04 AM.

[Jake Holman]

The Wandering Son

The thread in the kind mother's hand
Becomes a coat for her wandering son.
With infinite care she stitches and stitches
Fearing that he will delay his return.
Who would claim that the heart of the inch-long grass
Has gratitude enough to repay the spring sun's warmth?

--Meng Jiao (751-814)


《遊子吟》孟郊

　　慈母手中線，遊子身上衣。臨行密密縫，意恐遲遲歸。

　　誰言寸草心，報得三春暉。





Silk Coat, tomb of the Lady Dai, Mawangdui, Hunan Province, Western Han Period (2nd century BC)

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:06 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Gazing at the Snowy Zhongnan Mountains

How splendid are the shadowy Zhongnan peaks,
Capped with snow where the floating clouds end.
Treetops glisten as the skies clear up,
While in the village the evening grows cold.

--Zu Yong (699-c.746)


《終南望餘雪》祖詠

　　終南陰嶺秀，積雪浮雲端。林表明霽色，城中增暮寒。






Mountain village, Gansu Province

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:09 AM.

[Jake Holman]

The Leyou Plateau

Towards evening, feeling restless,
I drive my carriage up to this ancient plateau.
The setting sun is magnificent,
But the dusk is drawing near!

--Li Shangyin (c.813-858)


《樂游原》李商隱

　　向晚意不適，驅車登古原。夕陽無限好，只是近黃昏。






Sunset, Hexi Corridor, Gansu Province

Edited by Jake Holman, 24 January 2008 - 09:28 PM.

[Jake Holman]

Love

Longing, longing, pulsing, pulsing--what is it like?
Delicate as gossamer, vast as the waves.
The moon is not full for long, fickle flowers fall.
A whole lifetime filled with anguish, all because of her!

--Wu Rong (died 903)


《情》吳融

　　依依脈脈兩如何，細似輕絲渺似波。

　　月不長圓花易落，一生惆悵為伊多。





Palace Lady and Attendants, mural, tomb of Princess Yongtai (684-701), Xi'an

Edited by Jake Holman, 22 July 2007 - 08:41 PM.

[Jake Holman]

From "River Journey, One Hundred Untitled Poems" (#16)

The tow-path along the river is narrow.
The earth crumbles, the banks are uneven.
Everyone knows that the way is treacherous,
But who is willing to load light?

--Qian Qi (710-782)


《江行無題一百首》錢起

牽路沿江狹，沙崩岸不平。盡知行處險，誰肯載時輕。






Chinese laborers pulling ships, up river,
against the strong currents of the Yangzi, c.1912.

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:13 AM.

[Moon]

《雨晴》王駕

　　雨前初見花間蕊，雨後兼無葉裏花。

　　蛺蝶飛來過牆去，卻疑春色在鄰家。

Clear after Rain

Before the rain, the flowers had just opened their petals.
After the rain, not a single blossom appears among the leaves.
Butterflies come near, then dart across the wall,
Believing that spring's glory can be found next door.

--Wang Jia (fl. 890)


Butterflies and flowers, Chinese papercut

Wow Jake, these are very very nice poems.. and so thoughtful that you posted them both in English and Chinese, very colorful and beautiful pictures too... and I think this is my favourite.. for its colors.

Thanks for the efforts! I enjoy reading every one of them.

[Jake Holman]

The Book-Burning Pit

Bamboo and silk went up in smoke,
Ruining the emperor's name.
On river and pass they guarded in vain
The imperial dragon's realm.
Even before the ashes had cooled,
Rebellion broke out in Shandong--
Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, it would seem,
Didn't read books.

--Zhang Jie (836-905)

Notes: This poem refers to the famous burning of books ordered by Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, in 213 BC, in order to suppress dissent and destroy the writings of all schools of thought except for the Legalists (Fajia 法家). Books at the time were written on strips of bamboo or rolls of silk. The irony is that the peasant rebellions and military revolts which brought down the Qin Empire only seven years later (206 BC), were led by men of action who were not interested in "book-learning", such as Xiang Yu, a self-styled general, and Liu Bang, an army officer who became the founder of the Han Dynasty


《焚書坑》章碣

　　竹帛煙銷帝業虛，關河空鎖祖龍居。

　　坑灰未冷山東亂，劉項元來不讀書。





Statue of Qin Shi Huang, Tiananmen Wax Museum, Beijing

Edited by Jake Holman, 02 August 2008 - 03:06 PM.

[Jake Holman]

Leisure is Good

Leisure is good.
Dusty affairs don't entangle the mind.
I sit facing the tree outside the window
And watch its shadow change direction three times.

--Duan Chengshi (d. 863)


《閑中好》段成式

　　閑中好，塵務不縈心。坐對當窗木，看移三面陰。





A Literary Garden (detail), Zhou Wenju, Five Dynasties Period (907-960)

Edited by Jake Holman, 04 November 2007 - 10:16 PM.

[Jake Holman]

The Dwarfs of Daozhou

In the land of Daozhou
Many of the people are dwarfs;
The tallest of them never grow to more than three feet.
They were sold in the market as dwarf slaves and yearly sent to Court;
Described as “an offering of natural products from the land of Daozhou.”
A strange “offering of natural products” ; I never heard of one yet
That parted men from those they loved, never to meet again!
Old men—weeping for their grandsons; mothers for their children!
One day—Yang Cheng came to govern the land;
He refused to send up dwarf slaves in spite of incessant mandates.
He replied to the Emperor “Your servant finds in the Six Canonical Books
‘In offering products, one must offer what is there, and not what isn’t there’
On the waters and lands of Daozhou, among all the things that live
I only find dwarfish people; no dwarfish slaves.”
The Emperor’s heart was deeply moved and he sealed and sent a scroll
“The yearly tribute of dwarfish slaves is henceforth annulled.’’

The people of Daozhou,
Old ones and young ones, how great their joy!
Father with son and brother with brother henceforward kept together;
From that day for ever more they lived as free men.
The people of Daozhou
Still enjoy this gift.
And even now when they speak of the Governor
Tears start to their eyes.
And lest their children and their children’s children should forget the Governor’s name,
When boys are born the syllable “Yang” is often used in their forename.

--Bai Juyi (772-846)

Translated by Arthur Waley


《道州民－美臣遇明主也》白居易

道州民，多侏儒，長者不過三尺餘。

市作矮奴年進送，號為道州任土貢。

任土貢，寧若斯，不聞使人生別離，老翁哭孫母哭兒。

一自陽城來守郡，不進矮奴頻詔問。

城雲臣按六典書，任土貢有不貢無。

道州水土所生者，只有矮民無矮奴。

吾君感悟璽書下，歲貢矮奴宜悉罷。

道州民，老者幼者何欣欣。

父兄子弟始相保，從此得作良人身。

道州民，民到於今受其賜，欲說使君先下淚。

仍恐兒孫忘使君，生男多以陽為字





Dwarf, detail from a mural, Tang Dynasty

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:47 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Song of Changgan

When my hair just began to cover my forehead,
I was plucking flowers, playing in front of the gate.
You came along riding a bamboo stick horse,
circling and throwing green plums.
Together we lived in Changgan Village
never suspicious of our love.
At fourteen, I became your wife,
my shy face never opened.
I lowered my head, faced the dark wall,
to your thousand calls, never a response.
At fifteen, I became enlightened,
was willing to be dust with you, ashes with you.
Always preserving you in my heart,
why should I ascend the terrace to look for your return?
At sixteen, you traveled far, through
Qutang Gorge, by rocks and swirling waters…
And in the fifth month, they are impassable,
monkeys wailing to the sky…
By our door where you left footprints,
mosses, one by one, grew over;
too deep to be swept away!
Leaves fall early in the autumn wind.
In lunar August, yellow butterflies
hovered in pairs over the west garden grasses.
My heart hurt at this sight, beauty flickering…
Sooner or later, if you return through the Three Ba district,
send home first. I will meet you,
ignore the long distance, even to Long Wind Sands.

--Li Bai (701-762)

Translated by Arthur Sze


《長幹行》李白

　　妾發初覆額，折花門前劇。郎騎竹馬來，繞床弄青梅。

　　同居長幹裏，兩小無嫌猜。十四為君婦，羞顏未嘗開。

　　低頭向暗壁，千喚不一回。十五始展眉，願同塵與灰。

　　常存抱柱信，豈上望夫台。十六君遠行，瞿塘灩澦堆。

　　五月不可觸，猿聲天上哀。門前遲行跡，一一生綠苔。

　　苔深不能掃，落葉秋風早。八月蝴蝶來，雙飛西園草。

　　感此傷妾心，坐愁紅顏老。早晚下三巴，預將書報家。

　　相迎不道遠，直至長風沙。





Tomb figurine, Han Dynasty

Edited by Jake Holman, 27 July 2007 - 08:25 PM.