237 replies to this topic

[Jake Holman]

Pitying the Farmer

He hoes the grain under a midday sun,
sweat dripping down on the soil beneath the grain.
Who realizes that the food in the food bowl,
every last morsel of it, is bought with such toil?

--Li Shen (780-846)

Translated by Burton Watson



《憫農》李紳

　　鋤禾日當午，汗滴禾下土。誰知盤中餐，粒粒皆辛苦。





Ploughing and Winnowing Scene, mural, Yulin Grottoes, Gansu Province, Tang Dynasty

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:26 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Oxhead Temple

From my favorite place in the Zhongnan Mountains,
The chanting of the monks emerges into the dark sky.
Groves of trees stand out clearly in the somber solitude,
Thin mist floats in the desolate void.

--Sikong Tu (837-908)

Translated by Hellmut Wilhelm


《牛頭寺》司空圖

　　終南最佳處，禪誦出青霄。群木澄幽寂，疏煙泛泬寥。





Baoen Temple, Kuncan (also known as Shiqi) (1612-c.1692)

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:32 AM.

[kaiselin]

Congradulations Jake,
You have totally converted me.
I am really enjoying the poetry!!!!!!!!
I can't believe that I just bookmarked this thread as a favorite,
Please keep them coming, I love each one better then the next.

Edited by kaiselin, 21 June 2007 - 10:02 AM.

[Jake Holman]

From "Two Poems on Returning Home" (#1)

When I was young I left home, now old I return.
My accent hasn't changed, but my hair has gone gray.
Little children see me, but don't know who I am.
Smiling, they ask, "Stranger, where are you from?"

--He Zhizhang (659-744)


《回鄉偶書二首》賀知章

　　少小離鄉老大回，鄉音難改鬢毛衰。

　　兒童相見不相識，笑問客從何處來。





Eating Buns Together (Yuan Dynasty), National Palace Museum, Taiwan

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:18 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Excerpt from "Zhuchen Village"

In Xuzhou, in the District of Gufeng
There lies a village whose name is Zhuchen—
A hundred miles away from the county-town,
Amid fields of hemp and green of mulberry-trees.
Click, click goes the sound of the spinning-wheel;
Mules and oxen pack the village-streets.
The girls go drawing the water from the brook;
The men go gathering fire-wood on the hill...
Alive, they are the people of Chen Village;
Dead, they become the dust of Chen Village.

--Bai Juyi (772-846)

Translated by Arthur Waley


《朱陳村》白居易

　　徐州古豐縣，有村曰朱陳。去縣百餘裏，桑麻青氛氳。

　　機梭聲劄劄，牛驢走紜紜。女汲澗中水，男采山上薪。。。

　　生為村之民，死為村之塵。





Village, Wuyuan County, Jiangxi Province

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:21 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Deleted

Edited by Jake Holman, 04 November 2007 - 11:39 PM.

[Jake Holman]

Congradulations Jake,
You have totally converted me.
I am really enjoying the poetry!!!!!!!!
I can't believe that I just bookmarked this thread as a favorite,
Please keep them coming, I love each one better then the next.

Glad to hear it. When I can get some new converts to Chinese poetry I am very pleased! I'll keep going as long as I can, though I'm going to have to slow down in a bit.

[Jake Holman]

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.

I am glad you like my efforts. Chinese papercuts are very pretty!

[Jake Holman]

Remembering Golden Bells

Ruined and ill—a man of two score;
Pretty and guileless—a girl of three.
Not a boy—but still better than nothing:
To soothe one’s feeling—from time to time a kiss!
There came a day—they suddenly took her from me;
Her soul’s shadow wandered I know not where.
And when I remember how just at the time she died
She lisped strange sounds, beginning to learn to talk,
Then I know that the ties of flesh and blood
Only bind us to a load of grief and sorrow.

At last, by thinking of the time before she was born,
By thought and reason I drove the pain away.
Since my heart forgot her, many days have passed
And three times winter has changed to spring.
This morning, for a little, the old grief came back,
Because, in the road, I met her foster-nurse.

--Bai Juyi (772-846)

Translated by Arthur Waley


《念金鑾子》白居易


衰病四十身，嬌癡三歲女。非男猶勝無，慰情時一撫。

一朝舍我去，魂影無處所。況念夭劄時，嘔啞初學語。

始知骨肉愛，乃是憂悲聚。

唯思未有前，以理遣傷苦。忘懷日已久，三度移寒暑。

今日一傷心，因逢舊乳母。





Children Playing on a Winter Day, detail (Song Dynasty), National Palace Museum, Taiwan

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:35 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Written at a Mountaintop Temple

Staying the night at this mountaintop temple,
I can reach out and pluck the stars.
I dare not raise my voice in the stillness
For fear of disturbing those who dwell in the heavens.

--Li Bai (701-762)


《題峰頂寺》李白

夜宿峰頂寺。
舉手捫星辰。
不敢高聲語。
恐驚天上人。

Edited by Jake Holman, 09 July 2007 - 04:56 PM.

[Jake Holman]

A Night Traveler's Thoughts

Soft grass, gentle breeze on the bank,
Stark mast, single boat in the night.
Stars droop as the level fields widen,
Moon surges in the great river's flow.
A famous name--how can writings win that?
An official, old and sick, should quit.
Drifting, drifting, what am I like?
Between heaven and earth, a lone seagull.

--Du Fu (712-770)


《旅夜書懷》杜甫

　　細草微風岸，危檣獨夜舟。星垂平野闊，月湧大江流。

　　名豈文章著，官因老病休。飄飄何所似，天地一沙鷗。

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:39 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Wandering on Mount Zhongnan

South Mountain stuffs all heaven and earth,
Sun and moon grow up from its stones.
The high peak at night holds back the sun,
The deep vales are never bright by day.
Natural for mountain people to grow straight:
Where paths are steep the mind levels.
A long wind drives the pines and cypresses
With a sound that sweeps the thousand hollows clean.
Who comes here regrets that he ever studied
Morning after morning, to be close to floating fame.

--Meng Jiao (751-814)

Translated by A.C. Graham


《游終南山》孟郊

　　南山塞天地，日月石上生。高峰夜留景，深谷晝未明。

　　山中人自正，路險心亦平。長風驅松柏，聲拂萬壑清。

　　到此悔讀書，朝朝近浮名。






Mountains, Yangzi River Gorge, Yunnan Province

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:40 AM.

[Jake Holman]

Looking for a Recluse and not Finding Him

Beneath the pines I questioned a boy
Who said, "Master's gone gathering herbs.
He's someplace on this mountain,
So deep in the clouds that I don't know where."

--Jia Dao (779-843)



《尋隱者不遇》賈島

　　松下問童子，言師采藥去。只在此山中，雲深不知處。






Huangshan Mountains, Anhui Province

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:41 AM.

[Jake Holman]

The Swordsman

For ten years I have sharpened a sword.
Its frosty blade has never been tried.
On this day I show it to you--
Who is suffering from injustice?

--Jia Dao (779-843)


《劍客》賈島

　　十年磨一劍，霜刃未曾試。今日把示君，誰為不平事





"Seven Stars Sword", Shitennoji Temple, Osaka, Japan (Tang Dynasty)

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:44 AM.

[Jake Holman]

From "Seventeen Songs on the Autumn Cove River" (#6)

Autumn Cove has many white gibbons
That leap and bound like whirling snow.
They tug their young ones down from the branches
To drink and frolic with the water-borne moon.

--Li Bai (701-762)


《秋浦歌十七首》李白 　

秋浦多白猿，超騰若飛雪。牽引條上兒，飲弄水中月。






Gibbons at Play, Zhu Zhanji, the Xuande Emperor, reigned 1426-1435, National Palace Museum, Taiwan

Edited by Jake Holman, 08 July 2007 - 10:48 AM.