LI BAN
"Drinking Alone with the Moon"

A tankard of wine in the midst of some flowers
I drank alone, no one was with me
Raising my cup, asking the bright moon
Bring me my shadow let us be three.
Alas, the moon couldn’t drink,
And my shadow stared at my vacantly.
Still, for a while, I had these two friends,
To cheer me up as Spring was ending.
On the spot, I composed a poem, the moon encouraged me,
I got up and danced, my shadow stumbled along.
All along, we two bosom companions.
Finally drunk, it was then I lost him.
Eternally tied, lacking emotion, one wanders,
We two for a time watching the Starry River.

LIU ZONGYUAN
"River Snow"

A thousand mountains, not a bird in sight
Ten thousand paths, not a human track
Alone in a boat, wearing a straw cape and hat, an old man sits
Fishing alone, in the winter snow

MING HAORAN
"Memories of Early Winter"

The leaves are falling, the wild geese flying south
The water is cold here, the wind from the North.
I remember my home, where the Xiang River bends
Hidden by the clouds of Chu.

I weep for my village, ’til my tears are spent
I spy a lonely sail that stares at the sky
Indulge me, where is the delta ferry?
The lake is peaceful and boundless.

LI BAI
"Quiet Night Thought"

At the foot of my bed, moonlight
Yes, I suppose there is frost on the ground.
Lifting my head I gaze at the bright moon
Bowing my head, thinking of home.

TAO YUANMING

Success and failure? No known address.
This or that goes on, depending on the other.
And who can say if Milord Shao was happier
ruling a city, or sacked, his excellent melon patch?
Hot, cold, summer, winter: don’t they alternate?
Mayn’t a man’s way wander on just so?
Yes, those who “get there” know their opportunities…
have learned to untie the knots of knowledge.
But was it the notable or the notorious that our Sage spoke of?
The latter he called opportunists. Those who get there, doubtless,
know doubt nor care no more. Yet, doubt you not, nor do dead generals,
who plotted carefully at what seemed opportune,
and knew naught, right or wrong.
If, of a sudden, you’re offered fine wine,
let the sun sink. Enjoy it.

CHIA TAO

"Searching For The Hermit In Vain"

I asked the boy beneath the pines.

He said, "The master's gone alone 

Herb-picking somewhere on the mount,

Cloud-hidden, whereabouts unknown."

Translated by Lin Yu-tang

LI BAI
“Clearing at Dawn”

The fields are chill, the sparse rain has stopped;
The colours of Spring teem on every side.
With leaping fish the blue pond is full;
With singing thrushes the green boughs droop.
The flowers of the field have dabbled their powdered cheeks;
The mountain grasses are bent level at the waist.
By the bamboo stream the last fragment of cloud
Blown by the wind slowly scatters away.

LI BAI

The birds have vanished into the sky,
and now the last cloud drains away.

We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.

WANG WEI
“Deer Fence”

No one is seen in deserted hills,
only the echoes of speech are heard.
Sunlight cast back comes deep in the woods
and shines once again upon the green moss.

WANG WEI
“My Cottage at Deep South Mountain”

In my middle years I love the Dao
and by Deep South Mountain I make my home.
When happy I go alone into the mountains.
Only I understand this joy.
I walk until the water ends, and sit
waiting for the hour when clouds rise.
If I happen to meet an old woodcutter,
I chat with him, laughing and lost to time.

Currently Reading

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SONGS OF LOVE, MOON, AND WIND

Poems from the Chinese

Translated by Kenneth Rexroth

TU FU

"Country Cottage"

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A peasant's shack beside the

Clear river, the rustic gate

Opens on a deserted road

Weeds grow over the public well.

I loafin my old clothes. Willow

Branches sway. Flowering tree

Perfume the air. The sun sets

Behind a flock of cormorants,

Drying their black wings along the pier.

Translated by Kenneth Rexroth

LI PO

"On Ascending the Sin-Ping Tower"

____________________

An exile, I ascend this tower.

Thinking of home, and with the anguish of the waning year

The sun has set far beyond heaven's immensity;

The unsullied waters flow on in bleak undulation.

I see a stray cloud of Chin above the mountain trees,

And the wild geese of Tartary flying over the river dunes. 

Alas! for ten thousand miles under the dark blue sky

As far as my eyes can reach, there is but one vast gloom for me.

HAN YU

"Snow in Spring"

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The new year's come, but still the plants don't grow,

First in March I'm startled by grass shoots.

The white snow thinks the colours of spring are late,

So through the pavilion and trees it flies like blossom.

MOONLIGHT RESTS ON MY LEFT HAND
Poems and Essays

Yu Xiuhua

Translated by Fiona Sze-Lorrain

 

CHUANG TZU / THOMAS MERTON

The Way of Chuang Tzu

"The Breath of Nature"

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When great Nature sighs, we hear the winds 

Which, noiseless in themselves,

Awaken voices from other beings,

Blowing on them.

From every opening

Loud voices sound. Have you not heard 

This rush of tones?

There stands the overhanging wood 

On the steep mountain:

Old trees with holes and cracks 

Like snouts, maws, and ears,

Like beam-sockets, like goblets,

Grooves in the wood, hollows full of water:

You hear mooing and roaring, whistling,

Shouts of command, grumblings,

Deep drones, sad flutes.

One call awakens another in dialogue.

Gentle winds sing timidly,

Strong ones blast on without restraint.

Then the wind dies down. The openings

Empty out their last sound.

Have you not observed how all then trembles and subsides?

Yu replied: I understand:

The music of earth sings through a thousand holes. 

The music of man is made on flutes and instruments. 

What makes the music of heaven?

Master Ki said:

Something is blowing on a thousand different holes.

Some power stands behind all this and makes the sounds die

down.

What is this power?

KO UN
“Sunlight”
____________________
It’s absolutely inevitable!
So just take a deep breath
and accept this adversity.
But look!
A distinguished visitor deigns to visit
my tiny north-facing cell.
Not the chief making his rounds, no,
but a ray of sunlight as evening falls,
a gleam no bigger than a screwed-up stamp.
A sweetheart fit to go crazy about.
It settles there on the palm of a hand,
warms the toes of a shyly bared foot.
Then as I kneel and, undevoutly,
offer it a dry, parched face to kiss,
in a moment that scrap of sunlight slips away.
After the guest has departed through the bars,
the room feels several times colder and darker.
This military prison special cell
is a photographer’s darkroom.
Without any sunlight I laughed like a fool.
One day it was a coffin holding a corpse.
One day it was altogether the sea.
A wonderful thing!
A few people survive here.
Being alive is a sea
without a single sail in sight.

KO UN
“Two Beggars”
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Two beggars
sharing a meal of the food they’ve been given

The new moon shines intensely

TAO YUANMING

“Returning to Live on the Farm I”

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Since my youth, what was popular didn't suit me;
my basic character was love of hills and mountains.
Mistakenly, I fell into the dusty net,
and trapped, I lost all of thirty years.
A caged bird years for the ancient forest;
a fish kept in a pond will miss old waters.
I'll clear the wasteland at the southern border,
I'll stay honest and pure, and keep to the fields.

Elms and willows shade my back eaves,
peach and plum are heaped in the front hall.
The nearest hamlet is dim in the distance;
its smoke seems reluctant to leave the village.
Dogs bark from deep within the lanes;
chickens squawk through the tops of mulberry trees.
No dust swirls through my courtyard door;
empty rooms offer abundant leisure.
For so long I've felt I lived in a prison.
I am restored, content to return to nature.


Translation by Deng Ming-Dao

TAO TE CHING

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The heavy is the root of light.
Stillness is the ruler of agitation.

That is why the wise journey all day,
   but never stray from their supply carts.
They may have glorious views,
   but they pass them over
   and settle themselves comfortably instead.

How can the lords of ten thousand chariots
carry themselves lightly through the world?
   If they are light, they lose their roots.
   If they are agitated, they lose rulership.