Farewell to Cui

Pei Di (born ~ 714 A.D.)
 
 
On mountains steep and valleys deep
You’ll smile beyond the realm from there—
For just a day you’ll go that way,
To Peach Spring Garden, free of care.
 
 

Chinese   送崔九 裴迪   歸山深淺去 須盡丘壑美 莫學武陵人 暫遊桃源裡

Pronunciation   Sòng Cuī Jiǔ Péi Dí

Gazing at Zhongnan’s Snow

Zu Yong (699-746?)
 
 
As snow on Zhongnan Mountain floats in blooms
To form beyond the peak in cloudy nets
The forest clears in brightly colored hues—
But in the town, the cold and darkness sets.
 
 

Chinese   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

Pronunciation   Zhōng Nán Wàng Yú Xuě Zǔ Yǒng

Fresh Wood (for Luo Xue)

Wen Tianxiang (1236-1283)
 
 
A sigh, sigh sound from woods up high to low;
We close the gate and cover up with fur—
Spring feelings flow along the mountain gorge;
At dawn I rise to touch and look at her.
 
 

Chinese   贈羅雪崖樵青 文天祥   蕭蕭山下人 閉門衣裘單 春心動溪谷 曉起捫松看

Pronunciation

 
My dear old friend who’s parting West
Beneath the Yellow Towers;
While falling on the Yangzhou lands
Are mists and springtime flowers.
 
Your orphan boat’s a distant shade,
That sails where blue skies go;
I look upon the water tides—
Until the end they flow.
 
 
By Li Bai, tr. from the Chinese by Frank Watson
 

 
送孟浩然之廣陵 


故人西辭黃鶴樓，
煙花三月下揚州。 
孤帆遠影碧空盡，
惟見長江天際流。 
 
李 白

Within the mountain midst, a farewell scene:
I shut my door, the sun begins to set.
In spring next year the grass will turn to green,
But if you’ll come back here, I know not yet.
 
 
 
Chinese
 
送別
 
山中相送罷，
日暮掩柴扉。
春草明年綠，
王孫歸不歸。
 
 
Pronunciation
 
Sòng Bié
 
Shān zhōng xiāng sòng bà，
Rì mù yǎn chái fēi。
Chūn cǎo nián nián lǜ，
Wáng sūn guī bù guī。
 
 
Literal Character Translation

Inside the empty hills I see no men,
The human words I hear are merely echoes.
Returning deep within the woods again,
The light reflects atop, where green moss grows.
 
 
 
Chinese
 
鹿柴
 
空山不見人，
但聞人語響。
返景入深林，
復照青苔上。

 
Pronunciation
 
Lù Chái
 
Kōng shān bù jiàn rén，
Dàn wén rén yǔ xiǎng。
Fǎn jǐng rù shēn lín，
Fù zhào qīng tái shàng。
 
 
Literal Character Translation
 
Deer Woods

If you want to milk the Earth as a cow,
Then nourish the soil with seed and plow;
For when it’s set with deep grown roots,
Like a plentiful tree, it will yield many fruits.
 
 
 
Inspired by a Sanskrit poem by Bhartri-Hari, as translated in the Clay Sanskrit Library edition:
 
Rajan, dudhuksasi yadi Ksiti dhenum enam,
Ten’ adya vatsam iva lokam amum pusana;
Tasmims ca samyag anisam paripusyamane
Nana phalam phalati kalpa lat eva Bhumih.
 
King, if you want to milk this Earth as a cow,

The River Chu has split the hills in two
To send the jade-brushed water east and back,
Around the two opposing hills anew
As a lonely boat sits still in a sunlit crack.
 
 
Original Chinese poem by Li Bai