Fan Jinghua: A Summer Nightfall

　A Summer Nightfall
　　　　　　　　　After Han Wo

The tree in my yard
Casts down
A sluggish shade, faint and fresh.

A translucent figure fades out
By the marble steps leading to a dark cave
From where a cricket is heard.

The sun is down for quite a while now,
And the breezes, continuous, cannot be seen
But make one feel.

Occasionally, from way over the eaves,
Late returning cuckoos call out their own names,
Bewitchingly delicate.
　　　　　　　　　July 27, 2008

　　夏暮
　　　　　　　仿韩偓
我院子的这棵梧桐
投下懒懒的
影子，淡淡的，很新鲜。

大理石的台阶上，
一个半透明的身影消失进了黑洞，
只留下一只蛐蛐的叫声。

太阳落山已有一会儿了，
我能感到晚风
翩翩，却无法看见。

偶尔，迟归的布谷鸟
从屋檐外的高处叫唤着自己的名字，
那声音娇滴滴的，令人心悸。
　　　　　　　　　　2008年7月27日

Han Wo's Original

　　夏日
　　　　　[唐] 韩偓 (844-)
庭树新阴叶未成
玉阶人静一蝉声
相风不动乌龙睡
时有娇莺自唤名


　　　夏summer 日day
　　　　　　　唐Tang (Dynasty) 韩HAN 偓Wo
庭yard　树tree　新new　阴shade　叶leaf　未not yet　成fully grown
玉jade　阶steps　人man　静silent　一one　蝉cicada　声sound
相continuous　风wind　不not　动stir　乌dark　龙dragon　睡sleep
时oft　有have　娇delicate　莺cuckoo　自self　唤call　名name

Note: 自唤名 (call out its own name) refers to cuckoo, which is believed to cry out its own name. In Chinese literary motif, the cry sounds like “bu-ru-gui-qu (不如归去),” literally meaning “not comparable with returning (hometown)”. Therefore, cuckoo is usually a symbol of nostalgia.

HAN Wo is a late Tang Dynasty poet, who wrote some of the best erotic literati poems in Chinese. It is reported that he had a collection of poems entitled 香奁集 Fragrant Casket, and therefore he was hailed or denigrated as writing in a “Fragrant Casket” Style. The great late Tang poet Li Shangyin (813-858) was the husband of his mother’s sister, and he esteemed his promise when Han Wo was a child.