My Chief
Minister
is afflicted with a continuing illness.
Amy Lowell - Chinese Poets
His thoughts are never categorical, but fly high in the wind.
His poems are clear and fresh as those of Yü, the official;
They are fine and easy as those of Pao, the military counsellor.
I am North of the river Wei, looking at the Spring trees;
You are East of the river, watching the sunset clouds.
When shall we meet over a jug of wine?
When shall I have another precious discussion of literature with you?
AT THE EDGE OF HEAVEN. THINKING OF LI T'AI-PO
BY TU FU
A cold wind blows up from the edge of Heaven.
The state of mind of the superior man is what?
When does the wild goose arrive?
Autumn water flows high in the rivers and lakes.
They hated your essay--yet your fate was to succeed.
The demons where you are rejoice to see men go by.
You should hold speech with the soul of Yüan,
And toss a poem into the Mi Lo River as a gift to him.
SENT TO LI PO AS A GIFT
BY TU FU
Autumn comes,
We meet each other.
You still whirl about as a thistledown in the wind.
Your Elixir of Immortality is not yet perfected
And, remembering Ko Hung, you are ashamed.
You drink a great deal,
You sing wild songs,
Your days pass in emptiness.
Your nature is a spreading fire,
It is swift and strenuous.
But what does all this bravery amount to?
A TOAST FOR MÊNG YÜN-CH'ING
BY TU FU
Illimitable happiness,
But grief for our white heads.
We love the long watches of the night, the red candle.
It would be difficult to have too much of meeting,
Let us not be in a hurry to talk of separation.
But because the Heaven River will sink,
We had better empty the wine-cups.
To-morrow, at bright dawn, the world's business will entangle us.
We brush away our tears,
We go--East and West.
MOON NIGHT
BY TU FU
To-night--the moon at Fu Chou.
In the centre of the Women's Apartments
There is only one to look at it.
I am far away, but I love my little son, my daughter.
They cannot understand and think of Ch'ang An.
The sweet-smelling mist makes the cloud head-dress damp,
The jade arm must be chilly
In this clear, glorious shining.
When shall I lean on the lonely screen?
When shall we both be shone upon, and the scars of tears be dry?
HEARING THE EARLY ORIOLE (WRITTEN IN EXILE)
BY PO CHÜ-I
The sun rose while I slept. I had not yet risen
When I heard an early oriole above the roof of my house.
Suddenly it was like the Royal Park at dawn,
With birds calling from the branches of the ten-thousand-year trees.
I thought of my time as a Court Official
When I was meticulous with my pencil in the Audience Hall.
At the height of Spring, in occasional moments of leisure,
I would look at the grass and growing things,
And at dawn and at dusk I would hear this sound.
Where do I hear it now?
In the lonely solitude of the City of Hsün Yang.
The bird's song is certainly the same,
The change is in the emotions of the man.
If I could only stop thinking that I am at the ends of the earth,
I wonder, would it be so different from the Palace after all?
THE CITY OF STONES. (NANKING)
BY LIU YÜ-HSI
Hills surround the ancient kingdom; they never change.
The tide beats against the empty city, and silently, silently,
returns.
To the East, over the Huai River--the ancient moon.
Through the long, quiet night it moves, crossing the battlemented
wall.
SUNG TO THE TUNE OF "THE UNRIPE HAWTHORN BERRY"
BY NIU HSI-CHI
Mist is trying to hide the Spring-coloured hills,
The sky is pale, the stars are scattered and few.
The moon is broken and fading, yet there is light on your face,
These are the tears of separation, for now it is bright dawn.
We have said many words,
But our passion is not assuaged.
Turn your head, I have still something to say:
Remember my skirt of green open-work silk,
The sweet-scented grasses everywhere will prevent your forgetting.
WRITTEN BY WANG WEI, IN THE MANNER OF CHIA, THE (PALACE) SECRETARY,
AFTER AN IMPERIAL AUDIENCE AT DAWN IN THE "PALACE OF GREAT BRILLIANCE"
At the first light of the still-concealed sun, the Cock-man, in his
dark-red cap, strikes the tally-sticks and proclaims aloud the
hour.
At this exact moment, the Keeper of the Robes sends in the
eider-duck skin dress, with its cloud-like curving
feather-scales of kingfisher green.
In the Ninth Heaven, the Ch'ang Ho Gate opens; so do those of the
Palaces, and the Halls of Ceremony in the Palaces.
The ten thousand kingdoms send their ambassadors in the dresses and
caps of their ranks to do reverence before the pearl-stringed
head-dress.
The immediately-arrived sun tips the "Immortal Palm"; it glitters.
Sweet-scented smoke rises and flows about the Emperor's ceremonial
robes, making the dragons writhe.
The audience ended, I wish to cut the paper of five colours and
write upon it the words of the Son of Heaven.
My jade girdle-ornaments clash sweetly as I return to sit beside the
Pool of the Crested Love-Pheasant.
THE BLUE-GREEN STREAM
BY WANG WEI
Every time I have started for the Yellow Flower River,
I have gone down the Blue-Green Stream,
Following the hills, making ten thousand turnings.
We go along rapidly, but advance scarcely one hundred _li_.
We are in the midst of a noise of water,
Of the confused and mingled sounds of water broken by stones,
And in the deep darkness of pine-trees.
Rocked, rocked,
Moving on and on,
We float past water-chestnuts
Into a still clearness reflecting reeds and rushes.
My heart is clean and white as silk; it has already achieved Peace;
It is smooth as the placid river.
I long to stay here, curled up on the rocks,
Dropping my fish-line forever.
FARM HOUSE ON THE WEI STREAM
BY WANG WEI
The slanting sun shines on the cluster of small houses upon the
heights.
Oxen and sheep are coming home along the distant lane.
An old countryman is thinking of the herd-boy,
He leans on his staff by the thorn-branch gate, watching.
Pheasants are calling, the wheat is coming into ear,
Silk-worms sleep, the mulberry-leaves are thin.
Labourers, with their hoes over their shoulders, arrive;
They speak pleasantly together, loth to part.
It is for this I long--unambitious peace!
Disappointed in my hopes, dissatisfied, I hum "Dwindled and
Shrunken. "
SEEKING FOR THE HERMIT OF THE WEST HILL; NOT MEETING HIM
BY CH'IU WEI
On the Nothing-Beyond Peak, a hut of red grass.
I mount straight up for thirty _li_.
I knock at the closed door--no serving boy.
I look into the room. There is only the low table, and the stand for
the elbows.
If you are not sitting on the cloth seat of your rough wood cart,
Then you must be fishing in the Autumn water.
We have missed each other; we have not seen each other;
My effort to do you homage has been in vain.
The grass is the colour which rain leaves.
From inside the window, I hear the sound of pine-trees at dusk.
There is no greater solitude than to be here.
My ears hear it; my heart spreads open to it naturally.
Although I lack the entertainment of a host,
I have received much--the whole doctrine of clear purity.
My joy exhausted, I descend the hill.
Why should I wait for the Man of Wisdom?
FLOATING ON THE POOL OF JO YA. SPRING
BY CHI WU-CH'IEN
Solitary meditation is not suddenly snapped off; it continues
without interruption.
It flows--drifts this way, that way--returns upon itself.
The boat moves before a twilight wind.
We enter the mouth of the pool by the flower path
At the moment when night enfolds the Western Valley.
The serrated hills face the Southern Constellation,
Mist hangs over the deep river pools and floats down gently, gently,
with the current.
Behind me, through the trees, the moon is sinking.
The business of the world is a swiftly moving space of water, a
rushing, spreading water.
I am content to be an old man holding a bamboo fishing-rod.
SUNG TO THE AIR: "THE WANDERER"
(COMPOSED BY SU WU IN THE TIME OF THE EMPEROR WU OF HAN)
BY MÊNG CHIAO
Thread from the hands of a doting mother
Worked into the clothes of a far-off journeying son.
Before his departure, were the close, fine stitches set,
Lest haply his return be long delayed.
The heart--the inch-long grass--
Who will contend that either can repay
The gentle brightness of the Third Month of Spring.
FAREWELL WORDS TO THE DAUGHTER OF THE HOUSE OF YANG
BY WEI YING-WU
Because of this, sad, sad has the whole day been to me.
You must go forth and journey, far, very far.
The time has come when you, the maiden, must go.
The light boat ascends the great river.
Your particular bitterness is to have none from whom you may claim
support.
I have cherished you. I have pondered over you. I have been
increasingly gentle and tender to you.
A child taken from those who have cared for it--
On both sides separation brings the tears which will not cease.
Facing this, the very centre of the bowels is knotted.
It is your duty, you must go. It is scarcely possible to delay
farther.
From early childhood, you have lacked a mother's guidance,
How then will you know to serve your husband's mother? I am anxious.
From this time, the support on which you must rely is the home of
your husband.
You will find kindness and sympathy, therefore you must not grumble;
Modesty and thrift are indeed to be esteemed.
Money and jewels, maid-servants and furnishings--are these
necessary, a perfection to be waited for?
The way of a wife should be filial piety, respect and compliance;
Your manner, your conduct, should be in accord with this way.
To-day, at dawn, we part.
How many Autumns will pass before I see you?
Usually I endeavour to command my feelings,
But now, when my emotions come upon me suddenly, they are difficult
to control.
Being returned home, I look at my own little girl.
My tears fall as rain. They trickle down the string of my cap and
continue to flow.
SUNG TO THE AIR: "LOOKING SOUTH OVER THE RIVER AND DREAMING"
BY WÊN T'ING-YÜN
The hair is combed,
The face is washed,
All is done.
Alone, in the upper story of my Summer-house, I bend forward,
looking at the river.
A thousand sails pass--but among all of them the one is not.
The slant sunlight will not speak,
It will not speak.
The long-stretched water scarcely moves.
My bowels are broken within me.
Oh! Island of the White Water Flowers!
TOGETHER WE KNOW HAPPINESS
WRITTEN BY A DESCENDANT OF THE FOUNDER OF THE SOUTHERN T'ANG DYNASTY
Silent and alone, I ascended the West Cupola.
The moon was like a golden hook.
In the quiet, empty, inner courtyard, the coolness of early Autumn
enveloped the wu-t'ung tree.
Scissors cannot cut this thing;
Unravelled, it joins again and clings.
It is the sorrow of separation,
And none other tastes to the heart like this.
ONCE MORE FIELDS AND GARDENS
BY T'AO YÜAN-MING
Even as a young man
I was out of tune with ordinary pleasures.
It was my nature to love the rooted hills,
The high hills which look upon the four edges of Heaven.
What folly to spend one's life like a dropped leaf
Snared under the dust of streets,
But for thirteen years it was so I lived.
The caged bird longs for the fluttering of high leaves.
The fish in the garden pool languishes for the whirled water
Of meeting streams.
So I desired to clear and seed a patch of the wild Southern moor.
And always a countryman at heart,
I have come back to the square enclosures of my fields
And to my walled garden with its quiet paths.
Mine is a little property of ten _mou_ or so,
A thatched house of eight or nine rooms.
On the North side, the eaves are overhung
With the thick leaves of elm-trees,
And willow-trees break the strong force of the wind.
On the South, in front of the great hall,
Peach-trees and plum-trees spread a net of branches
Before the distant view.
The village is hazy, hazy,
And mist sucks over the open moor.
A dog barks in the sunken lane which runs through the village.
A cock crows, perched on a clipped mulberry.
There is no dust or clatter
In the courtyard before my house.
My private rooms are quiet,
And calm with the leisure of moonlight through an open door.
For a long time I lived in a cage;
Now I have returned.
For one must return
To fulfil one's nature.
SONG OF THE SNAPPED WILLOW
WRITTEN DURING THE LIANG DYNASTY
When he mounted his horse, he did not take his leather riding-whip;
He pulled down and snapped off the branch of a willow-tree.
When he dismounted, he blew into his horizontal flute,
And it was as though the fierce grief of his departure would destroy
the traveller.
THE CLOUDY RIVER
(FROM THE "BOOK OF ODES")
How the Cloudy River glitters--
Shining, revolving in the sky!
The King spoke:
"Alas! Alas!
What crime have the men of to-day committed
That Heaven sends down upon them
Confusion and death?
The grain does not sprout,
The green harvests wither,
Again and again this happens.
There is no spirit to whom I have not rendered homage,
No sacrifice I have withheld for love.
My stone sceptres and round badges of rank have come to an end.
Why have I not been heard?
Already the drought is terrible beyond expression!
The heated air is overpowering; it is a concentrated fierceness.
I have not ceased to offer the pure sacrifices,
I myself have gone from the border altars to the ancestral temples.
To Heaven,
To Earth,
I have made the proper offerings,
I have buried them in the ground.
There is no spirit I have not honoured,
Hou Chi could do no more.
Shang Ti does not look favourably upon us.
This waste and ruin of the Earth--
If my body alone might endure it!
Already the drought is terrible beyond expression!
I cannot evade the responsibility of it.
I am afraid--afraid; I feel in peril--I feel in peril,
As when one hears the clap of thunder and the roll of thunder.
Of the remnant of the black-haired people of Chou
There will not be left so much as half a man.
Ruler over the high, wide Heavens,
Even I shall not be spared.
Why should I not be terrified
Since the ancestral sacrifices will be ended?
Already the drought is terrible beyond expression!
The consequences of it cannot be prevented.
Scorching--scorching!
Blazing--blazing!
No living place is left to me.
The Great Decree of Fate is near its end.
There is none to look up to; none whose counsel I might ask.
The many great officials, the upright men of ancient days,
Cannot advise me in regard to these consequences.
My father, my mother, my remote ancestors,
How can you endure this which has befallen me?
Already the drought is terrible beyond expression!
Parched and scoured the hills, the streams.
Drought, the Demon of Drought, has caused these ravages,
Like a burning fire which consumes everything.
My heart is shrivelled with the heat;
Sorrow rises from the heart as smoke from fire.
The many great officials, the upright men of ancient days,
Do not listen to me.
Ruler of the high, wide Heavens,
Permit that I retire to obscurity.
Already the drought is terrible beyond expression!
I strive, and force myself in vain.
I dread that which will come.
How--why--should I bear this madness of drought?
I suffer not to know the reason for it.
I offered the yearly sacrifices for full crops in good time.
I neglected not one of the Spirits of the Four Quarters of the Earth.
The Ruler of the high, wide Heavens
Does not even consider me.
I have worshipped and reverenced the bright gods,
They should not be dissatisfied or angry with me.
Already the drought is terrible beyond expression!
Everything is in confusion; all authority is gone;
My officials are reduced to extremity.
My Chief Minister is afflicted with a continuing illness.
My Master of the Horse, my Commander of the Guards,
My Steward, my attendants of the Right and of the Left,
Not one among them has failed to try and help the people,
Not one has given up because powerless.
I raise my head and look at the Ruler of the wide, bright Heavens.
I cry: 'Why must I suffer such grief! '
I look upwards. I gaze at the wide, bright Heavens,
There are little stars twinkling, even those stars.
My officers and the great men of my country,
You have wrought sincerely and without gain.
The Great Decree is near its end.
Do not abandon what you have partly accomplished,
Your prayers are not for me alone,
But to guard the people and those who watch over them from calamity.
I look upwards. I gaze at the wide, bright Heavens.
When shall I receive the favour of rest? "
TO THE AIR: "THE FALLEN LEAVES AND THE PLAINTIVE CICADA"
BY THE EMPEROR WU OF HAN
There is no rustle of silken sleeves,
Dust gathers in the Jade Courtyard.
The empty houses are cold, still, without sound.
The leaves fall and lie upon the bars of doorway after doorway.
I long for the Most Beautiful One; how can I attain my desire?
Pain bursts my heart. There is no peace.
WRITTEN IN EARLY AUTUMN AT THE POOL OF SPRINKLING WATER
BY CHAO TI OF HAN, THE "BRIGHT EMPEROR"
In Autumn, when the landscape is clear, to float over the wide,
water ripples,
To pick the water-chestnut and the lotus-flower with a quick, light
hand!
The fresh wind is cool, we start singing to the movement of the
oars.
The clouds are bright; they part before the light of dawn; the moon
has sunk below the Silver River.
Enjoying such pleasure for ten thousand years--
Could one consider it too much?
PROCLAIMING THE JOY OF CERTAIN HOURS
BY THE EMPEROR LING OF (LATER) HAN
Cool wind rising. Sun sparkling on the wide canal.
Pink lotuses, bent down by day, spread open at night.
There is too much pleasure; a day cannot contain it.
Clear sounds of strings, smooth flowing notes of flageolets--we sing
the "Jade Love-Bird" song.
A thousand years? Ten thousand? Nothing could exceed such delight.
A SONG OF GRIEF
BY PAN CHIEH-YÜ
Glazed silk, newly cut, smooth, glittering, white,
As white, as clear, even as frost and snow.
Perfectly fashioned into a fan,
Round, round, like the brilliant moon,
Treasured in my Lord's sleeve, taken out, put in--
Wave it, shake it, and a little wind flies from it.
How often I fear the Autumn Season's coming
And the fierce, cold wind which scatters the blazing heat.
Discarded, passed by, laid in a box alone;
Such a little time, and the thing of love cast off.
A LETTER OF THANKS FOR PRECIOUS PEARLS BESTOWED BY ONE ABOVE
BY CHIANG TS'AI-P'IN
(THE "PLUM-BLOSSOM" CONCUBINE OF THE EMPEROR MING HUANG)
It is long--long--since my two eyebrows were painted like
cassia-leaves.
I have ended the adorning of myself. My tears soak my dress of
coarse red silk.
All day I sit in the Palace of the High Gate. I do not wash; I do
not comb my hair.
How can precious pearls soothe so desolate a grief.
DANCING
BY YANG KUEI-FEI
(THE "WHITE POPLAR" IMPERIAL CONCUBINE OF THE EMPEROR MING HUANG)
Wide sleeves sway.
Scents,
Sweet scents
Incessantly coming.
It is red lilies,
Lotus lilies,
Floating up,
And up,
Out of Autumn mist.
Thin clouds
Puffed,
Fluttered,
Blown on a rippling wind
Through a mountain pass.
Young willow shoots
Touching,
Brushing,
The water
Of the garden pool.
SONGS OF THE COURTESANS
(WRITTEN DURING THE LIANG DYNASTY)
ONE OF THE "SONGS OF THE TEN REQUESTS"
BY TING LIU NIANG
My skirt is cut out of peacock silk,
Red and green shine together, they are also opposed.
It dazzles like the gold-chequered skin of the scaly dragon.
Clearly so odd and lovely a thing must be admired.
My Lord himself knows well the size.
I beg thee, my Lover, give me a girdle.
AI AI THINKS OF THE MAN SHE LOVES
How often must I pass the moonlight nights alone?
I gaze far--far--for the Seven Scents Chariot.
My girdle drops because my waist is shrunken.
The golden hairpins of my disordered head-dress are all askew.
SENT TO HER LOVER YÜAN AT HO NAN (SOUTH OF THE RIVER) BY CHANG PI LAN
(JADE-GREEN ORCHID) FROM HU PEI (NORTH OF THE LAKE)
My Lover is like the tree-peony of Lo Yang.
I, unworthy, like the common willows of Wu Ch'ang.
Both places love the Spring wind.
When shall we hold each other's hands again?
CH'IN, THE "FIRE-BIRD WITH PLUMAGE WHITE AS JADE," LONGS FOR HER LOVER
Incessant the buzzing of insects beyond the orchid curtain.
The moon flings slanting shadows from the pepper-trees across the
courtyard.
Pity the girl of the flowery house,
Who is not equal to the blossoms
Of Lo Yang.
THE GREAT HO RIVER
BY THE MOTHER OF THE LORD OF SUNG
(FROM "THE BOOK OF ODES")
Who says the Ho is wide?
Why one little reed can bridge it.
Who says that Sung is far?
I stand on tiptoe and see it.
Who says the Ho is wide?
Why the smallest boat cannot enter.
Who says that Sung is far?
It takes not a morning to reach it.
WRITTEN PICTURES
AN EVENING MEETING
The night is the colour of Spring mists.
The lamp-flower falls.
And the flame bursts out brightly.
In the midst of the disorder of the dressing-table
Lies a black eye-stone.
As she dances,
A golden hairpin drops to the ground.
She peeps over her fan,
Arch, coquettish, welcoming his arrival.
Then suddenly striking the strings of her table-lute,
She sings--
But what is the rain of Sorceress Gorge
Doing by the shore of the Western Sea?
LI HAI-KU, 19th Century
THE EMPEROR'S RETURN FROM A JOURNEY TO THE SOUTH
Like a saint, he comes,
The Most Noble.
In his lacquered state chariot
He awes the hundred living things.
He is clouded with the purple smoke of incense,
A round umbrella
Protects the Son of Heaven.
Exquisite is the beauty
Of the two-edged swords,
Of the chariots,
Of the star-embroidered shoes of the attendants.
The Sun and Moon fans are borne before him,
And he is preceded by sharp spears
And the blowing brightness of innumerable flags.
The Spring wind proclaims the Emperor's return,
Binding the ten thousand districts together
In a chorded harmony of Peace and Satisfaction,
So that the white-haired old men and the multitudes rejoice,
And I wish to add my ode
In praise of perfect peace.
WÊN CHÊNG-MING, 16th Century
ON SEEING THE PORTRAIT OF A BEAUTIFUL CONCUBINE
Fine rain,
Spring mud
Slippery as bean curds.
In a rose-red flash, she approaches--
Beautiful, sparkling like wine;
Tottering as though overcome with wine.
Her little feet slip on the sliding path;
Who will support her?
Clearly it is her picture
We see here,
In a rose-red silken dress,
Her hair plaited like the folds
Of the hundred clouds.
It is Manshu.
CH'EN HUNG-SHOU, 19th Century
CALLIGRAPHY
The writing of Li Po-hai
Is like the vermilion bird
And the blue-green dragon.
It drifts slowly as clouds drift;
It has the wide swiftness of wind.
Hidden within it lurk the dragon and the tiger.
The writing of Chia, the official,
Is like the high hat of ceremonial.
It flashes like flowers in the hair,
And its music is the trailing of robes
And the sweet tinkling of jade girdle-pendants.
Because of his distinguished position,
He never says anything not sanctioned by precedent.
LIANG T'UNG-SHU, 18th Century
THE PALACE BLOSSOMS
When the rain ceases,
The white water flowers of Ch'ang Lo stroll together at sunset
In the City by the River.
The young girls are no longer confined
In the gold pavilions,
But may gaze at the green water
Whirling under the bridge of many turnings.
TAI TA-MIEN, 18th Century
ONE GOES A JOURNEY
He is going to the Tung T'ing Lake,
My friend whom I have loved so many years.
The Spring wind startles the willows
And they break into pale leaf.
I go with my friend
As far as the river-bank.
He is gone--
And my mind is filled and overflowing
With the things I did not say.
Again the white water flower
Is ripe for plucking.
The green, pointed swords of the iris
Splinter the brown earth.
To the South of the river
Are many sweet-olive trees.
I gather branches of them to give to my friend
On his return.
LIU SHIH-AN, 18th Century
FROM THE STRAW HUT AMONG THE SEVEN PEAKS
I
From the high pavilion of the great rock,
I look down at the green river.
There is the sail of a returning boat.
The birds are flying in pairs.
The faint snuff colour of trees
Closes the horizon.
All about me
Sharp peaks jag upward;
But through my window,
And beyond,
Is the smooth, broad brightness
Of the setting sun.
II
Clouds brush the rocky ledge.
In the dark green shadow left by the sunken sun
A jade fountain flies,
And a little stream,
Thin as the fine thread spun by sad women in prison chambers,
Slides through the grasses
And whirls suddenly upon itself
Avoiding the sharp edges of the iris-leaves.
Few people pass here.
Only the hermits of the hills come in companies
To gather the Imperial Fern.
LU KUN, 19th Century
ON THE CLASSIC OF THE HILLS AND SEA
In what place does the cinnabar-red tree of the alchemists seed?
Upon the sun-slopes
Of Mount Mi
It pushes out its yellow flowers
And rounds its crimson fruit.
Eat it and you will live forever.
The frozen dew is like white jade;
It shimmers with the curious light of gems.
Why do people regard these things?
Because the Yellow Emperor considers them of importance.
Written by LI HAI-KU, 19th Century
Composed by T'AO CH'IEN
THE HERMIT
A cold rain blurs the edges of the river.
Night enters Wu.
In the level brightness of dawn
I saw my friend start alone for the Ch'u Mountain.
He gave me this message for his friends and relations at Lo Yang:
My heart is a piece of ice in a jade cup.
Written by LI HAI-KU, 19th Century
Composed by WANG CH'ANG-LING
AFTER HOW MANY YEARS
SPRING
The willows near the roadside rest-house are soft with new-burst
buds.
I saunter along the river path,
Listening to the occasional beating of the ferry drum.
Clouds blow and separate,
And between them I see the watch towers
Of the distant city.
They come in official coats
To examine my books.
Months go by;
Years slide backwards and disappear.
Musing,
I shut my eyes
And think of the road I have come,
And of the Spring weeds
Choking the fields of my house.
SUMMER
The rain has stopped.
The clouds drive in a new direction.
The sand is so dry and hard that my wooden shoes ring upon it
As I walk.
The flowers in the wind are very beautiful.
A little stream quietly draws a line
Through the sand.
Every household is drunk with sacrificial wine,
And every field is tall with millet
And pale young wheat.
I have not much business.
It is a good day.
I smile.
I will write a poem
On all this sudden brightness.
AUTUMN
Hoar-frost is falling,
And the water of the river runs clear.
The moon has not yet risen,
But there are many stars.
I hear the watch-dogs
In the near-by village.
On the opposite bank
Autumn lamps are burning in the windows.
I am sick,
Sick with all the illnesses there are.
I can bear this cold no longer,
And a great pity for my whole past life
Fills my mind.
The boat has started at last.
O be careful not to run foul
Of the fishing-nets!
WINTER
I was lonely in the cold valleys
Where I was stationed.
But I am still lonely,
And when no one is near
I sigh.
My gluttonous wife rails at me
To guard her bamboo shoots.
My son is ill and neglects to water
The flowers.
Oh yes,
Old red rice can satisfy hunger,
And poor people can buy muddy, unstrained wine
On credit.
But the pile of land-tax bills
Is growing;
I will go over and see my neighbour,
Leaning on my staff.
LI HAI-KU, 19th Century
THE INN AT THE MOUNTAIN PASS
I return to the inn at the foot of the Climbing Bean Pass.
The smooth skin of the water shines,
And the clouds slip over the sky.
This is the twilight of dawn and dusk.
On the top of Hsi Lêng
The hill priest sits in the evening
And meditates.
Two--
Two--
Those are the lights of fishing-boats
Arriving at the door.
WANG CHING-TS'ÊNG, 19th Century
LI T'AI-PO MEDITATES
Li Po climbed the Flowery Mountain
As far as the Peak of the Fallen Precipice.
Gazing upward, he said:
"From this little space my breath can reach the God Star. "
He sighed, regretting his irresolution, and thought:
"Hsieh T'iao alarms people with his poetry.
I can only scratch my head
And beseech the Green Heaven
To regard me. "
HO PING-SHOU, 19th Century
PAIR OF SCROLLS
Shoals of fish assemble and scatter,
Suddenly there is no trace of them.
The single butterfly comes--
Goes--
Comes--
Returning as though urged by love.
HO SHAO-CHI, 19th Century
TWO PANELS
By the scent of the burning pine-cones,
I read the "Book of Changes. "
Shaking the dew from the lotus-flowers,
I write T'ang poetry.
LIANG T'UNG-SHU, 19th Century
THE RETURN
He is a solitary traveller
Returning to his home in the West.
Ah, but how difficult to find the way!
He has journeyed three thousand _li_.
He has attended an Imperial audience at the Twelve Towers.
He sees the slanting willows by the road
With their new leaves,
But when he left his house
His eyes were dazzled by the colours
Of Autumn.
What darkness fills them now!
He is far from the Autumn-bright hills
He remembers.
The spread of the river before him is empty,
It slides--slides.
LI HAI-KU, 19th Century
EVENING CALM
The sun has set.
The sand sparkles.
The sky is bright with afterglow.
The small waves flicker,
And the swirling water rustles the stones.
In the white path of the moon,
A small boat drifts,
Seeking for the entrance
To the stream of many turnings.
Probably there is snow
On the shady slopes of the hills.
KAO SHIH-CHI, 19th Century
FISHING PICTURE
The fishermen draw their nets
From the great pool of the T'an River.
They have hired a boat
And come here to fish by the reflected light
Of the sunken sun.
TA CHUNG-KUANG, 19th Century
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF ORIGINAL "HANGING-ON-THE-WALL POEM" ENTITLED
"FISHING PICTURE"]
SPRING. SUMMER. AUTUMN
The stream at the foot of the mountain
Runs all day.
Even far back in the hills,
The grass is growing;
Spring is late there.
From all about comes the sound
Of dogs barking
And chickens cheeping.
They are stripping the mulberry-trees,
But who planted them?
What a wind!
We start in our boat
To gather the red water-chestnut.
Leaning on my staff,
I watch the sun sink
Behind the Western village.
I can see the apricot-trees
Set on their raised stone platform,
With an old fisherman standing
Beside them.
It makes me think
Of the Peach-Blossom Fountain,
And the houses
Clustered about it.
Let us meet beside the spring
And drink wine together.
I will bring my table-lute;
It is good
To lean against
The great pines.
In the gardens to the South,
The sun-flowers are wet with dew;
They will pick them at dawn.
And all night
In the Western villages
One hears the sound of yellow millet being pounded.
LI HAI-KU, 19th Century
NOTES
NOTES
SONGS OF THE MARCHES
_Note 1. _
_It is the Fifth Month,
But still the Heaven-high hills
Shine with snow. _
The Fifth Month corresponds to June. (See Introduction. ) The Heaven-high
hills are the T'ien Shan Mountains, which run across the Northern part
of Central Asia and in places attain a height of 20,000 feet.
