YUAN Mei: 3 Poems

　　　Impromptu (An Incidental Poem)
When a mind has a thing to rest on, it is constantly calm;
Flavors last longest if they are not sought after.
A child tries to snap the fluff of willows,
It matters nothing if he does not catch anything.

　　　　偶成
有寄心常静，无求味最长。
儿童擒柳絮，不得也何妨！

　　　　Moss
Where sunlight does not reach,
Moss chooses to settle down.
Its flowers tiny as grains of rice
Learn to bloom like peonies.

　　　　　苔
白日不到处，青春恰自来。
苔花如米小，也学牡丹开。


　　Sighted (What Enters my Eyes)
A cowherd riding a yellow cow,
The woods echo with his tunes.
Suddenly, he stands still, silent,
For he wants to catch a cicada.

　　　　所见
牧童骑黄牛，歌声振林樾。
意欲捕鸣蝉，忽然闭口立。

Yuan Mei: Three Poems

Yuan Mei: Three Poems

Yuan Mei (1716-1799) was one of the few great poet scholars in Qing Dynasty that I love. Whenever poeple talk about Classical Chinese poetry, the names such as LI Po, DU Fu, Bo Juyi, Tao Yuanming, Su Shi would pop up into their minds, and for good reasons, too. For the dynasties that came after the greatest poem dynasty Tang, regulated verse appeared to be in the decline. However, the regulated poetry has always been the most respected genre in China, even with the popularity of lyrics (ci-poem) in Song Dynasty that followed Tang. Yuan Mei's poetry is sometimes very colloquial, and almost every object in the daily life could enter his poetry, such as chopsticks etc. He was influenced by Zen Buddhism, and the following poems may exemplify the point.

　　Passing by

Passing by the Green Creek, by chance,
Where spring water runs through the misty wilderness,
I noticed a fishing rod on the ground
And saw no one around.

　　偶过
偶过青溪上，濛濛野水春。
钓鱼竿在地，不见钓鱼人。

　　偶accidental 过pass by
偶accidental 过pass by青Green溪Creek上over
濛濛misty 野wide 水water 春spring
钓to fish with a hook鱼fish竿rod在 (be/exist) on地ground
不not 见see钓fishing鱼fishing 人man

　　Call on someone
That night, I tried to call on someone
in the mountain, under the thick moonlight.
I knocked on the gate,
no one seemed to be alarmed,
and only a crane answered.

　　访客
夜访山中客，濛濛月色凝。
敲门人未觉，仙鹤一声应。

　　访visit客guest
夜night访visit山mountain中amid客guest
濛濛misty月moon色color凝thickening
敲know门gate人man未not yet觉sense
仙immortal鹤crane一one 声sound应respond


　　The Window Pushed Open
All the night, rain and wind are charging hard,
And my brushwood door has been shut tight.
The mountain must have been missing me for too long,
For it pushes open the window, coming at my face.

　　推窗
连宵风雨恶，蓬户不轻开。
山似相思久，推窗扑面来。

　　推push窗window
连link宵night风wind雨rain恶evil
蓬brushwood户door不not轻easily开open
山mountain似seem相思miss/long for久long
推push窗window扑throw at面face来come

Mao Pang: Dawn of the New Year

Today is the Eve of Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year), and I translate one classic Chinese ci-poem (song lyrics) and wish everyone who comes to visit me here a happy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit (2011).


元日（玉楼春）[宋]毛滂
一年滴尽莲花漏，碧井屠苏沉冻酒。
晓寒料峭尚欺人，春态苗条先到柳。
佳人重劝千长寿，柏叶椒花芬翠袖。
醉乡深处少相知，只与东君偏故旧。

元primordial日day（玉jade楼tower春spring）
[宋song (dynasty)]毛Mao (surname) 滂Pang (given name)
一one 年year滴drip 尽over 莲lotus 花flower漏waterclock
碧bluish green 井well 屠苏a kind of herb沉sink冻iced酒wine
晓morning 寒chillness 料峭cold尚still 欺bully 人people
春spring 态manner 苗条slender 先first 到come 柳willow
佳beautiful人people 重once and again 劝urge 千thousand 长寿longevity
柏cypress叶leave椒pepper花flower 芬sweet 翠bright green袖sleeve
醉drunken 乡country 深deep处place 少few 相each other知know
只only与with东君East Lord (the Sun) 偏to lean故旧old friend

My translation:
　　　Dawn of the New Year
　　　　　(to the Tune of Spring Befalling the Jade Pavilion)
　　　　　　　　[Song Dynasty] Mao Pang (1061?-?)
Another year is dripping to its end on the Lotus Water-clock,
My favorite herbal wine kept deep in the green well.
While the cold winter air is still bullying people,
The spring has been badgering with the willows with its light manners.
My women urge me to drink more of the tonic,
Their bright-patterned sleeves fanning out its aroma of cypress and pepper.
In the realm of wine and poetry, I have few bosom friends,
And the sun may be the only visitor as if like my own kith and kin.

Looking for a Hermit (by Qiwu Qian and Jia Dao)

Qiwu Qian: Passing by Venerable Rong’s Retreat 綦毋潛《过融上人兰若》
Jia Dao: Looking For a Hermit and In Vain 贾岛《寻隐者不遇》


　　　过融上人兰若
　　　　　　　　　　綦毋潛
山头禅室挂僧衣，窗外无人溪鸟飞。
黄昏半在下山路，却听泉声恋翠微。

Word-by-word Exegesis 逐字注：
　过pass 融Rong 上upper 人man 兰若a Buddhist’s retreat [transliteration of Sanskrit aranya]
　　　　　　　綦毋潛 [Qiwu Qian, 691-756, Tang Dynasty]
山mountain 头top 禅Zen 室house 挂hang 僧monk 衣clothe
窗window 外outside 无no 人people 溪creek 鸟bird 飞fly
黄yellow 昏dusk 半half 在on 下down 山mountain 路road
却but 听hear 泉spring 声sound 恋linger 翠green 微reclusion

　　This poem was written from a speaker’s point of view, as in most of Chinese classical poems the speaker can be identified as the poet. That is why most Chinese critics would take poetry as the expression of personal sentiments (Western mimesis vs Chinese expressionism).
　　The poem reads like this: I passed by Master Rong’s retreat on the mountain top, and saw there a monk’s clothe hanging outside. No one was in, and there were water birds flying across the window. As I was going away, down the hill, I saw the last rays of sunlight lingering on the path, and from behind the green trees came the gurgling of a spring.
　　To seek a hermit is a motif in classical Chinese poetry, and it had almost the import of the pursuit of the Grail in the West; but of course Chinese pursuit was much secular. The seeker had to be a secular person, and the urge to transcend the secular was also secular and even secularly worshiped or sublimated. A secular person tried to sublimate his secularity by the desire to transcend the secular, and as a result, in the poems the seeking for a hermit was never successful. The seeking itself became an end in itself; the desire to seek proved to be a remedy to appease the desire, temporarily, and writing it out was a follow-up, an after-effect, both a suppression and a titillation for another surge of the desire to “go again.”
　　There is another famous poem by Jia Dao (779-843 Tang Dynasty) entitled “To Seek A Hermit and In Vain”:
　寻隐者不遇 　　　(寻seek 隐者hermit不not遇meet)
　　　　贾岛　　　　　　　　　　　　　　贾岛Jia Dao
　松下问童子　　 (松pine trees 下below 问ask 童子page, child)
　言师采药去 　　(言say 师master, teacher 采gather, pick up 药herb 去gone)
　只在此山中 　　(只only 在in此this 山mountain中amid)
　云 深不知处 　　(云clouds 深deep不not 知know 处location)
　This poem reads like this: I ask the page below the pine trees, and he says his teacher has gone gathering herbs. He is amid the mountain, below the deep clouds but no one can tell where he can be located. This poem uses the page (boy attendant) as a naïve “objective correlative” of the speaker.

My rewriting tries to highlight the atmosphere of “no man’s land” in the universe:
　　　　A Hermitage
A patched cassock hanging on a bamboo sticking out
From the window of this hermitage,
And on the mountain top, there are water birds flying to and fro.
Are they from the creek below, for this human being? Down there,
Dusk is full already,
Climbing up halfway to the path
By which I am going down, back to the society.
Water bubbling behind the thick layers of trees and shrubs.

我改写的《过融上人兰若》：

　　　　一个隐居所

　　一件百衲袍挂在竹竿上，
　　从这隐居所的窗外伸出
　　在这山顶上，竟有水鸟飞来飞去。
　　它们从下面的小溪处飞来的吧，因为这儿住着人？那儿，
　　已经盛满了黄昏，
　　正沿着小径向上爬，
　　而我将会借它返回人尘。
　　层叠的高树矮树背后，有水声淙淙。

　　寻隐者或者寻仙是中国古诗中的一个关键主题，和西方的追寻圣杯意义近似，然而我们的古诗中没有那种外在的宗教意义，这种追寻实际上是很世俗的。首先，寻隐者或者大道人高僧之类的世外人，是完全反映了寻访者的世俗性的，这种世俗性就在于我要以仍然有这种寻访之心来证明自己要求超俗的欲望，而这欲望本身正是世俗的表现。因此，这里的寻访就是一个悖论，或者寻访的冲动本身就是终点。我们看到中国古诗中的这种寻访必然“不遇”。中国古诗中的说话人往往可以被视为诗人本身，因为汉语美学倾向于抒发表现，这自然也和西方摹仿美学相对，但是很难说这和汉语文化中超验宗教比较弱不无关系。也许是因为缺少这种超验性的或者说是外在于人性本身的宗教性，因此汉语诗一个技巧就是用一个天真的“客观对应物”来表现自己。例如贾岛的著名诗作《寻隐者不遇》中的那个对答童子，实际上就可以说是代表着说话人的另一个自我，是一个“天真”的等待者。等待，可说是“侍候”，这也是书童的作用。同样，我在綦毋潛的《过融上人兰若》中看到“溪鸟”也起到了如此作用。本来是溪水中的鸟，却高飞到山头的禅室这儿；也许人们可以按照科学说这是鸟的特性，然而在读诗的时候，我们或许应该说这是因为禅室这儿是惟一有人气的地方，这刚好就与我的寻访形成了一种对应。

Chang Jian: On Broken Mountain Zen Retreat

Chang Jian: On Broken Mountain Zen Retreat
常建《题破山寺后禅院》


Word-by-word Exegesis 逐字注：

　　题inscribe 破broken 山mountain 寺temple 后behind禅Zen 院yard

清clear 晨morning 入enter 古ancient 寺temple
初beginning 日sun 照shine 高high 林forest
曲winding 径path 通leading to 幽seclude 处place
禅Zen 房house 花flower 木tree 深deep
山mountain 光light 悦enjoy, please 鸟bird 性nature
潭pool 影shadow 空empty 人human 心heart
万ten thousand 籁sound 此here 俱all 寂quiet
惟only 闻hear 钟bell 磬inverted bell 声sound

My translation我译：

　　On a Zen Retreat behind Broken-Mountain Temple
　　　　　　　　　　　　　Chang Jian (708-765? Tang Dynasty)
Early morning has entered the old temple,
The rising sun is shining over the high trees.
A winding path leads to a secluded site,
Deep in the flowers and woods, a Zen retreat.
Light over the mountain plays with the bird flight,
Shadows on the pool empty the human heart.
Ten thousand natural sounds are dead here,
Except for the chanting of bells over there.

Original 原文：

　　题破山寺后禅院
　　　　　　　常建
清晨入古寺，初日照高林。
曲径通幽处，禅房花木深。
山光悦鸟性，潭影空人心。
万籁此俱寂，惟闻钟磬声。


　　　　　　Chinese calligraphy should read from right to left vertically.

Commentary评注：
　　Among the stellar poets of the high Tang, Chang Jian (708-765?) was not famous, except for, perhaps, a few poems, with this one the most popularly admired. Tang poetry was usually periodized into the early, the high, the middle and the late. Formally, the early Tang poetry was basically trying to test out the best positioning of words (Chinese characters) in terms of metric scheme and sound system, but there was much echo of the antique "rawness" (to borrow Robert Lowell's raw and cooked poetry, which may be an echo of Levi Strauss’ structural anthropological terms). The ruggedness in the early period gave way to the colloquial in the High Tang, when such poets as Li Bai (Li Po 701-762), Wang Wei (701-761) and Du Fu (712-770) would write about almost anything in their lives in a very plain language. The plainness of language, however, does not mean that the poets did not pay attention to diction. In fact, an everyday word only came into the poems when it was proved to be irreplaceably appropriate in the linguistic and thematic context. When the High Tang appeared to have exhausted the whole range of language, it was the middle Tang poets who suffered most. Therefore, the following period produced some of the most miserable craftsmen, an example of "the influence of anxiety" in ancient China.
　　Among the bitter poet craftsmen was a poet called Jia Dao (779-843), who once wrote a poem with such lines "Birds nestle on the tree by the pool, / A monk pushes the door in the moonlight." He was not sure whether to use "push" or "knock at" the door, and on his donkey to Chang'an (Xi'an, then capital of Tang) he was still buried with the thought and doing the gesture of “pushing” and “knocking,” not aware that he had broken into the file of honor guards of Han Yu (768-824), then the famous poet who would always consider himself a master (teacher). Han Yu decided "knocking" was better. Jia Dao was then a down-and-out scholar unsuccessful with imperial examination and considering becoming a monk. Maybe he was only trying to “borrow the light” from Han Yu. Anyway, since then, he was appointed as a low official, because of Han Yu's recommendation. Now,in Chinese, "push (or) knock" become a phrase, meaning "weighing and mulling over."
　　Generally, the late Tang poets had overcome the anxiety, and although fewer poets (poems) were produced at that time, the subtlety of the late Tang poetry was incomparable. Poets like Li Ho, Du Mu and Li Shangyin were composing pearls and gems. To use Chang Jian's lines, the late Tang poetry was "Follow a zigzagging path to the secluded sight, we find deep in the flowers and woods a poetic retreat."

Zhou Bangyan: A Lad on the Road

Zhou Bangyan: A Lad on the Road
周邦彦:《少年游. 并刀如水》

　　少年游
　　　　　周邦彦
并刀如水，吴盐胜雪，
纤手破新橙。
锦幄初温，兽烟不断，
相对坐调笙。

低声问：向谁行宿？
城上已三更。
马滑霜浓，不如休去，
直是少人行。

Word-by-word Exegesis 逐字注：

　　少young年age游wandering
　　　　　周Zhou 邦彦 Bangyan
并Bing (prefecture) 刀knife如like (adj.) 水water
吴Wu (prefecture) 盐salt 胜better than 雪snow
纤fine, slender 手hand 破open, break up 新new, fresh 橙orange
锦brocade 幄curtains (as a partition) 初beginning to温 warm
兽beast 烟 (incense)smoke 不not断 stop
相对opposite to坐sit 调adjust 笙bamboo panpipe

低low 声voice 问ask 向to 谁who 行go 宿dwell
城city 上over 已already 三the third更 two-hour unit of the night (five in one night)
马horse 滑slip 霜frost 浓 thick不no如better休not去go
直really 是there are少few 人people 行walking

　　A Lad on the Road
　　　　　　　Zhou Bangyan (1056-1121 Song Dynasty)　　tr. Fan Jinghua
A knife from Bing is waterlike, salt from Wu is whiter than snow,
Slender hands cut clean a fresh orange.
Brocade curtains are warming, incense is curling up from the beast-head,
The two sit opposite, tuning a panpipe.

One whisper asks: To whom are you going?
Upon the city predawn dark is falling.
Frosty road is slippery for the horse; better not go now,
There are few souls on the road.

Commentary 评注:
　　Tang Dynasty was noted for its poems (such as five-character or seven-character quatrain or regulated eight-line poems, rhymed), while the succeeding Song Dynasty was famous for its lyrics to set tunes. This title is itself a tune, to which lyrics were “filled” (as Chinese distinguish between “filling in a ci-poem aka lyrics and composing a poem). Hence, while a poem may usually have a title of its own (of course it can be titled as "untitled"), the title of a ci-poem (lyrics) usually appears in the form of a tune with the first few words of the poem.
　　Zhou Bangyan (1056-1121 Song Dynasty) was very famous lyrist. This is one of the best example of restraint and simplicity of a love poem, although my translation may appear to be a little overdone. The first part is the time when a woman is welcoming the man. But the welcome is done with low-keyed in terms of “action.” The woman does not say anything, but takes out the best things. Using a particular knife and particular salt to prepare fresh oranges. The only decisive action is her “cutting clean” an orange, and this implies her neat and quick character. Her intention and efforts are also shown in the setting. Since it is a cold season, there has been an oven to warm the room, and there is also an exquisite incense burner of a beast-head shape. In the rococo setting are sitting two people, face to face, no words, alternatively tuning a bamboo panpipe. Everything and everyone seem to be what they should be, like a genre painting.
　　The second part suddenly turns to a very late time, and the in-between time is omitted. We do not know what they have been doing, or maybe they have been playing music, without much to say to each other. The woman who is perhaps quite quick and decisive is now whispering to ask, hesitating, as if she only wants to pick up a small talk. Then she makes a few cautions: it is dark, cold and late, the road too slippery, and the horse risky. At last she suddenly blurts out: Do not go.

抒情的下一站
　　铮铮亮的刀子，如水；晶晶亮的盐，胜雪；很女性，很净洁。一双手看似柔细，下刀果断，爽落，橙子破开。破的不是瓜。而那个氛围倒恰恰有氤氲气的，锦缎的帘子用来隔开内室外室，闪着浓厚温暖的光，兽首的香炉烟气袅袅，简直洛可可，再加上两个人默默或说默契地调弄笙管，宛若温香的风俗画。无语，更是因为无需多语；来，犹如满足期待，那一切都是为你而备；不来，这场景就依然在未来，to-come（将来而未来）的状态是时间空间的，等待将to-be的状态具体化，to-be（将是的存在）早已形成在期待之中。因此，这个此刻的空间，这个相对而坐的时候是超越时空的，所以我们不知道这之后或者这之中他们做了什么。两个人如此见面了，符合期待，便是早已见了面，做什么说什么都是次要的。
　　于是，时间已经过去。三更了，她才意识到有关“宿”的问题，却只能以看似不经意的低声，问一句：下一站是谁？
　　这是个痴心的女子。她也知道下一站那个该和她一样吧。百般理由，夜深了，天太黑，霜很滑，马儿危险，路上孤单……说到底，就是不好说自己不愿他离去。
　　情，深切真挚到这份上，是懂得心疼下一站的那个人的。张爱玲和胡兰成结婚，写的帖子是：因为懂得，所以慈悲。

HAN Wo: Night on the Cold Food Day

HAN Wo： Night on the Cold Food Day

　　　　寒食夜
　　　　　　　　【唐】韩偓
恻恻轻寒翦翦风，杏花飘雪小桃红。
夜深斜搭秋千索，楼阁蒙胧细雨中。

Word-for-word exegesis 逐字注：

　　　　寒cold食food夜night
　　　　　　　　　　By Han Wo [Tang Dynasty]
恻恻dejected 轻slight 寒cold 翦翦chilly and fluttering like scissors 风wind
杏apricot 花flower 飘waft 雪snow 小tiny 桃peach 红red
夜night 深deep 斜slanting 搭hang 秋千swing 索rope
楼tower 阁pavilion 蒙胧hazy 细fine 雨rain (drizzle)中amid

My translation我译:

　　　　　　Night on the Cold Food Day
　　　　　　　　　　by HAN Wo [Tang Dynasty]
Dejected and chilly is the wind, fluttering like scissors’ blades,
Apricot flowers white like snowflakes, tiny red are peach buds.
The night is deep, the swing ropes are left alone and still,
Pavilions and towers are only half, floating in the misty drizzle.

Back-Translation 回译：

　　　寒食节之夜
沉郁清冷的风，轻跃如剪刀的刃，
杏花白似雪片，桃花蓓蕾小而红。
夜已深，只有秋千索被留下，一动不动，
亭子与楼阁只有一半，浮在凄迷的细雨中。

Notes：
　　In traditional Chinese lunar calendar, a year is divided into 24 seasonal division points 二十四节气. Each season is divided into 6 points, marked by 15 degrees of the sun’s position at ecliptic. The first is of course Beginning of Spring (立春), February 4 or 5 on Gregorian calendar. Pure Brightness (清明) is fifteen days after Vernal Equinox (春分), with 15 degree of the sun’s position at ecliptic. Folk customs for Pure Brightness are mostly associated with memorial ceremony for the ancestry. On the day before Pure Brightness, no cooking smoke is allowed, for back in Spring and Autumn Period 春秋时代 (770-476 BC) there was a man called Jie Tui 介推 (or Tui of Jie 介之推) who, once accompanied the dethroned Jin Emperor Wengong 晋文公in exile, declined to come out of hermitage when Wengong took power again. Wengong set fire to the woods Jie Tui secluded, in hope of chasing him out, but Jie Tui, clasping a tree, was burnt to death. Emperor Wengong ordered that on the day Jie Tui died the whole nation should have no fire.
　　In this poem, the allusion of Cold Food Day is in the third line, which is usually the thematically most significant line in the classical quatrain. Swings were the allusion to the festival because from very early days there was a custom that on this day women would play the swing (of course when they played for fun they were also playing to provide pleasure for the watching male eyes). It was said that swing playing had evolved from the northern nations on horsebacks and gradually been taken on by women. The ropes became colorful. In the book Anecdotes from Kaiyuan and Tianbao Reigns (from714-741 and 742-755 A.D. under the famous lover-emperor Xuanzong)of Tang Dynasty, a book mainly about the everyday activities not recorded in the official history, there is such a note: “When Cold Food Day comes, many swings are erected in the palace, and womenfolk including concubines and royal maids receive orders to play when there are banquets and music.”
　　It has been generally expected that the line of a quatrain renders the most significant message, and here in this poem it implies the theme. This appears to be a poem purely about the sight of a yard, and the third line tells us that there is the speaker looking at the empty swings late at night. Thus, this poem becomes a poem of grievance and love. In Chinese, spring is almost always implies the wakening of love, and the phrases like spring intention (春意) or spring feeling (春情) all have a double meaning referring to love or desire, which is just a little less explicit that spring heart (春心), meaning the stirring of a mind for sexual love. This, again, was a typical poem by Han Wo who was famous for his book entitled “Fragrant Casket” with many poems about “spring feeling” and “spring heart” of womenfolk.

Li Po: To a Faraway One

Li Bai: To a Faraway One (No.6 of 11)

Darkening clouds screen off the Chu Water,
Swivelling weeds scatter on the Wei River.
Missing you day and night witout end,
Swaying and expanding like a heaving tide.
The current flows eastward to the sea,
There is no return for anyone to revisit.
Only a dewdrop of tear can be sent
To the faraway one who is a flower.

李白： 《寄远 (之六)》
阴云隔楚水，转蓬落渭河。
相思无日夜，浩荡若流波。
流波向海去，欲见终无因。
遥将一点泪，远寄如花人。

　　In fact, Li Bai’s love poems were not particularly good, not as good as his friendship poems. But he surprisingly wrote some lines which were considered very “blunt” according to the classical decorum. His writing of women was usually very sensual and specific, sometimes like The Song of Solomon in the Bible. It can be said that women in Li Bai’s poems were of flesh rather than of soul, which was perhaps the result of his Daoist ideal about women. For him, the relation with a woman had to be physical. In another poem (No.7 of the 11 poems in this suite), he wrote “How to steal a meeting/ And off with the candle and clothing”(何由一相见，灭烛解罗衣) while in yet another poem “Song About A Meeting”(相逢行) he wrote that “A meeting with no chances for intimacies/ Is no better than no meeting at all” (相见不得亲，不如不相见).

Chinese Valentine's Day

　　　　　　Double Seventh Day

　　Today (Aug. 26) is Chinese traditional festival, The Double Seventh (Day) (Lunar calendar the seventh day of the seventh month). People now tend to name it Chinese Valentine’s Day. The tradition tells that today young girls may find their future husband in dreams. Naturally, there is legend or myth behind this. I wrote of this before in two poems ("Double-Seven Eve" and "Queen of Heaven")
　　The Weaving Maid was a fairy in the Heaven who loved the Cowherd on the human world, so she descended. They lived together for a few years, happily, with two children. The Queen of Heaven was angered and called back the Maid. The Cowherd put their children in the baskets and shouldered them with a pole, so he began chasing her. The Queen of the Heaven saw that the Cowherd was fast approaching, she pulled out her hair clasp and drew behind her a deep gut. It became the Heavenly River. The Cowherd could do nothing but stationed there, staring at the Weaving Maid who stared herself into a star too. The Queen of the Heaven allowed them to meet, once for a year, on the Seventh day of the Seventh (Lunar) Month, which is today The Double Seventh (Day or Festival). They could meet each other only on the river without a bridge, and fortunately magpies use their wings to build a bridge. The name of magpie in Chinese is “Happy Bird” (an auspicious bird) and that is why there are always magpies as a motif in Chinese paintings.
　　The existing earliest poem and perhaps one of the most famous is this poem:

　　　　迢迢牵牛星，皎皎河汉女。
　　　　纤纤擢素手，札札弄机杼。
　　　　终日不成章，泣涕零如雨。
　　　　河汉清且浅，相去复几许。
　　　　盈盈一水间，脉脉不得语。

　迢far 迢far 牵lead牛cow星star
　皎white, bright皎 河river汉the Galaxy女maid
　纤纤fine擢pull素white, snowy手hand
　札札scrunching sound弄play机machine杼shuttle
　终end日day不no成achieve章colored silk
　泣weep涕tear零fall如like雨rain
　河river汉Galaxy清clear且and浅shallow
　相from去away复how几many许approximately
　盈full盈 full 一one 水water间between
　脉脉deeply affectionate不no 得can语say

　　Far and distant in the Sky hangs the Cowherd Star

Far and distant in the Sky hangs the Cowherd Star,
Bright on the Heavenly River floats the Weaving Maid:
Graceful and delicate her snowy hands pull out
The shuttles that make tedious scrunching sounds.
The day’s ended, and she can weave not a piece,
Her tears falling like broken rain-strings.
How clear and shallow the Galaxy River looks,
But how they are kept away from each other:
There is only a river between them, and yet
No words can get across despite their deep love.

　　The Chinese celebrate this day for a long long time, and this song was written during the Han Dynasty and collected into “19 Antique Poems”, which was the second known collection of poems after The Book of Songs (edited by Confucius). It was believed that Han Wu Emperor Liu Che (156BC-78AD) ordered the officials to collect fold songs, and later became the Music Bureau poems. It was during this time that the poem came to be recorded.
　　By the way, this Liu Che was known to the westerners perhaps by Ezra Pound’s famous poem of the same title "Liu Ch'e," which was a rewriting of this emperor’s poem entitled "AN Elegy of a Weeping Cicada for Fallen Leaves" (落叶哀婵曲). Pound’s poem reads:
　　　　The rustling of the silk is discontinued,
　　　　Dust drifts over the court-yard,
　　　　There is no sound of foot-fall, and the leaves
　　　　Scurry into heaps and lie still,
　　　　And she the rejoicer of the heart is beneath them:

　　　　A wet leaf that clings to the threshold.

BTW, I find a pretty handicraft (not a paper-cutting, but a paper-tearing). This retired teacher from Henan is making his paper artwork by tearing with his bare hands. In the artwork, you can see the Ox with two children, the lovers on the bridge of magpies.

　　　　　

Du Mu: Shen Xiaxian

Du Mu’s Poem “Shen Xiaxian”

　　　沈下贤
　　　　　　　杜牧
斯人清唱何人和，草径苔芜不可寻。
一夕小敷山下梦，水如环珮月如襟。

Word-by-word Exegesis 逐字注解

　　　沈Shen 下贤Xiaxian
There is no title to the name, which shows that this person had not any official affiliation.

斯this 人man 清clear 唱sing 何who 人man 和join in the chorus or reply a poem
草grass 径path 苔moss 芜weeds 不no 可able 寻search, find
一one 夕night, dusk 小little 敷Fu 山mount 下below 梦dream
水water 如alike 环circular 珮jade pendant 月moon 如alike 襟frontal piece of a garment

Translation 翻译

　　　Shen Xiaxian
　　　　　　　　by DU Mu (803-852 Late Tang Dynasty)
For this man’s unaffected voice, who can ever play a chord?
Amid the mossy paths beneath weeds, no trace of him can be found.
One night by the Little Fu mountainside may accommodate many a dream,
And water encircles like a jade pendant, and the moon is shining on your bosom.

　　I did not read this poem before, for this is not an often anthologized poem of Du Mu’s massive poetry. Today, I opened his annotated poetry, and read for about ten minutes before coming across this one. I was immediately fascinated by it.
　　I acknowledge my ignorance of the addressee Shen Xiaxian in the title, and the annotation does not tell much, except that he was a Confucian scholar and passed an imperial examination in 815 AD (and this is mot impressive as almost every such a scholar had passed a certain degree of examination). The annotation did not even mention whether he had obtained any official position, and this most probably means that he had not. However, I did find some information about him. He was especially noted for “fabulous stories” (as in Chinese term, “legendary story” refers to the fabulous, the supernatural, the romantic, which is generally about the affairs between the ghosts or animal-incarnated spirits and the human). No wonder he was especially admired by another late Tang poet Li Ho, who has been one of my favorites too.
　　This poem was written in 850 when Du Mu went to Huzhou Prefecture (Lake Prefecture) as its top official. By then, Shen could not have been dead for very long, as he passed the imperial exam in 815. The poem started with the poet’s visit to Shen’s ruined residence or rather his search for the remains, and he found that nothing was left. When the poet referred to Shen as “this man,” he was actually calling him “you” as if Shen was in front of him. The next phrase “unaffected voice” (clear singing) was referring to his stories. Therefore, “this man” was modified to refer to the man in the stories, and Du Mu read Shen’s work and found enough affinity with him to call him “you” when he went to visit Shen’s old residence. The sight at the site brought Du to a psychological presence, and this could be a good example of literary affinity or appreciation. Then, he lamented at the sight of the deserted place, because there were obviously no admirers around. Otherwise, the place could not be deserted like this. The second line further confirms that no one was worthy of his company.
　　Perhaps he lingered there for some time, maybe for the night. Then he could see the Little Fu Mount at the dusk, and imagined a scene comparable to what Shen evoked in his mind. I do not want to overuse the objective-correlative stuff to interpret Chinese poetry, for there is a fundamental problem here. No one can be sure about the subject in the last two lines: whether it was the poet who was dreaming by the foothill or was he imagining that the spirit of Shen was still living around? The former interpretation will mean that this is basically a direct expression of the poet, while the latter will mean both. When the poet Du could not find any trace left of Shen, he would conjure his spirit as he understood from his work. Again, the last line became perfect illustration of his plain clear limpid song.
　　There is a saying from an ancient philosopher that one night accommodates many lives and deaths, and this poem obviously alludes to this. The moon shines clear as if the frontal of the garment, which means that the person’s heart is clear like the moonlight, cool and pure.

　　从未读过这首诗，今天拿出《樊川诗集注》就这么翻阅着，十多分钟之后翻到了这首诗，立即被迷住了。我不知道这个沈下贤是谁，看注释也没说出什么来，后来查了一下资料知道这位在当时写了不少别具一格的传奇故事，可惜我比较无知。他在815年（元和十年，呵呵，我从不记得这些纪年方式）登进士第，而一个名字没有任何职位的称呼，说明这个沈下贤似乎没有做过官。
　　这首诗写于850年，当时杜牧去湖州任刺史，而这位沈下贤就是当地人，李商隐、李贺都写过有关他的诗。按说，沈下贤应该是死去不久，毕竟他在815年在考取进士。诗歌第一句感时，说斯人，简直就说你犹在眼前才是，说清唱，则是因为他的文章，于是斯人就成了文字中的斯人，也就是说我看你的文字，犹如见人；这才是能文者之间的情谊和理解。杜牧到了现场，眼中所见，一片荒芜，于是第二句进一步佐证了第一句中的“何人和”？于是凭吊也好，不忍去也好，他似乎在那儿呆到了晚上。
　　我们不需要用艾略特所谓的“客观对应物”来解读中国古诗，因为这里最基本的问题是，我们无法确定后两句的主语到底是谁。是否杜牧在山下流连，还是他因为读了沈下贤的传奇，所以似乎感到沈下贤的灵魂还在此处逡巡？如说是前者，那么这就是抒情诗，说的是我看到山水，看到月色，想着你就是如此的真纯。如果是后者，那么也同样令人感到一种泠泠的气质。这或许和沈的传奇气质相似。但是无论如何，这空灵的两行将怀人和此人的气质写到很到位。

Back-Translation into Contemporary Chinese 现代汉语回译

　　　沈下贤

这样的人，毫不矫作的声音，有谁能为他弹奏和弦？

在这杂草下布满绿苔的小径之间，找不到他的任何迹象。

在这小敷山下，一夜就能接待许多场梦，

而水环绕着，像玉佩，月亮在你的胸襟闪亮。

DU Mu: Driving Through the Mountains

　　　Driving through the Mountains
　　　　　　　　　DU Mu (803-852 Tang Dynasty)
A steep path winds up into the cold rocky mountains,
There, buried deep in the clouds are people’s homes.
I stop my carriage to enjoy the maple woods gilded at dusk,
And flusher than the March flowers are these frosted leaves.

Word-by-word Exegesis 逐字注释

　　　　山mountain 行tour
　　　　　　　　杜牧(803-852)
远far 上up 寒cold 山mountain 石stone 径path 斜slant
白white 云cloud 深deep 处place 有there is 人human 家home
停stop 车cart 坐because 爱love 枫maple 林woods 晚night, dusk
霜frost 叶leave 红red 于more 二second 月month 花flower

Chinese Original 中文原文

　　　　山行
　　　　　　　　杜牧(803-852)
远上寒山石径斜，白云深处有人家。
停车坐爱枫林晚，霜叶红于二月花。


A rewriting and back-translation 改写与回译

　　A View of the Autumn Mountain
A stony trail winds like a white vine,
Grows narrower and narrower among trees
And disappears into the chilly hills
Where clouds heave over the scattering of village houses.
Looking at this sloping road, bewildered at dusk,
I stop my cart by a terrace, alone with my pony,
And find the maple leaves gilded by the afterglow
Appear flusher and fleshier than the early spring flowers.

　　　秋日山景

一条石头小径如一根白藤
蜿蜒，进入树林，越来越窄，
直至消失在寒气逼人的山中。
那儿，云朵在散落的村舍上方涌动。
看着眼前的下坡路，一时茫然，
我索性停车，独自与马儿
站在这平台上，看枫叶披着晚霞，
比早春的花儿更加红艳丰腴。

Liu Zongyuan: Snowscape on a River

　　Snowscape on a River
　　　　　　　　　LIU Zongyuan (773-819 Tang Poet)　tr. FAN Jinghua
Among a thousand mountains, bird’s flight denies sighting,
Along ten thousand trails, human traces leave nothing.
On a lone boat, a man, perhaps old, in a straw rain-cape,
Fishes on the cold solitary river taking in downy flakes.

Original Chinese Poem:

　　江雪
　　　　　[唐] 柳宗元 (773-819)
千山鸟飞绝，万径人踪灭。
孤舟蓑笠翁，独钓寒江雪。


Word-by-word Exegesis

　　江River 雪Snow
　　　　　　柳LIU 宗元zongyuan (773-819)
千thousand 山mountain 鸟bird 飞fly绝none
万ten thousand 径path 人man 踪trail 灭out
孤lone 舟boat 蓑straw rain-cape 笠bamboo hat 翁old man
独solitary 钓fishing 寒cold 江river 雪snow

　　I do not know whether Wallace Stevens’s famous "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird" was influenced in some way or other by this famous Tang poem, which also appeared in Witter Bynner’s Jade Mountain. However, I see some affinities between Stevens’s poem and this one.
　　I translate this poem because today my kid is practicing his calligraphy by writing out this poem. The first three lines from his calligraphy is copied here.

　　儿子写书法，因此顺便扫描到这儿。这首诗总是令我想到史蒂文斯的《十三种看鸟的方式》，我不知道他是否受到了柳宗元的这首诗的影响，但是最早的唐诗英译都会收入这首诗，其中出版于1929年的Jade Mountain《玉山集》基于《唐诗三百首》，而译者可说是史蒂文斯的同代诗人，他这首《看鸟的方式》出版于1955年。

DU Mu: A Green Grave

Today, last year, a disastrous earthquake claimed countless deaths in Sichuan....

去年今日，中国四川发生强烈地震，死伤无数……

A Green Grave (a Seven-Character Quatrain) by Du Mu (803-852 Tang Dynasty )

　　　　青冢
　　　　　　　　[唐]杜牧
青冢前头陇水流，燕山山上暮云秋。
峨眉一坠穷泉路，夜夜孤魂月下愁。

Word-by-word Exegesis 逐字注

　　　　青green 冢grave
青qreen 冢grave 前in front of 头head 陇Long 水River, water 流flow
燕山Yan Mount 山mountain 上on 暮dusk 云cloud 秋autumn
蛾moth 眉eyebrow 一once 坠drop 穷end 泉spring (akin to Lethe) 路road
夜night 夜night 孤lone 魂ghost 月moon 下under 愁sad


　　　　　A Green Grave
　　　　　　　　　　　By DU Mu (803-852 Tang Dynasty )
A green grave lies where the Long River flows past its head,
Mount Yan lures evening clouds of autumn over its peak.
Once the moth-browed soul drifts down the Yellow Springs Road,
Her lonely spirit will grieve in the moon, night after night.

　　　　A Grass-Covered Grave
　　　　　　　　　　　By DU Mu (803-852 Tang Dynasty )
Water flows past this grass-covered grave, non-stop,
Autumnal clouds linger in the dusk over Swallow Mountain top.
Once her fluttering eyebrows drop into the Yellow Springs of Death,
Night after night only her ghost floats lonely in the moonlight.

Some Formal Aspects in this Poem

　　Chinese poems, like this quatrain, are formally very strict, and the skill shows in how the poet can walk the wire with ease. Firstly, there is sound and intonation requirement of every word in the poem. For this quatrain, Lines 1, 2 and 4 are end rhymed with a long flat or rising intonation. For seven-character lines, the parsing should be 2 (characters), 2 (characters) and 3 (1+2 or 2+1 characters). Furthermore, the 2-character phrase is usually a compound, of the modifier and modified key word. Therefore, for the first couplet, we have “green grave” to correspond to “moth-like brow” as they are both nouns referring to places. We have “in front of the head” to counterpoint “on the mountain,” as they both referring to directions. The last three characters here should be parsed into 2+1, as “Long’s water + flow” and “evening clouds + autumn (as a verb).” The first line is mobile, while the second is of still motion. The first line is about horizontal grave and water, the second about vertical mountain and cloud.

Picking Lotus Seed-Pods

　　　　Picking Lotus Seed-Pods

　　Chinese has a long tradition of picking the lotus seeds, apparently for a healthy recipe. This tradition has involved into a culture, which has hatched many symbolic chicks. Lotus is grown mostly in the southern part of China, or the “watery region,” where the girls are said to be "watery" ("水灵" literally, watery [or juicy] and spirit-like or spirit-ful ["quick-witted"]). Remember to praise a girl who has a fine skin with this phrase which pronounces as "shuiling"(/swei/falling-rising tone and /liŋ/rising tone). For the image-loving ancient scholars, the girls in bright colors amid the green leaves and pinkish white flowers provide a palateful sight, and it is not surprising to for them to write songs. However, the most famous song is definitely a folk song in Han Dynasty’s Music Bureau Poems.

江南可采莲，莲叶何田田，鱼戏莲叶间。
鱼戏莲叶东，鱼戏莲叶西，鱼戏莲叶南，鱼戏莲叶北。
Lovely is the Southern River where lotus flowers grow,
How densely the leaves huddle one to another,
And there are fishes playing in the water under.
Fishes playing to the east of the leaves,
Fishes playing to the west;
Fishes playing to the south of the leaves,
Fishes playing to the north too.

　　　莲花坞
　　　　　　　　　[唐] 王维（701-761）
日日采莲去，洲长多暮归。弄篙莫溅水，畏湿红莲衣。

　　Lotus Flower Basin
　　　　　　　　　　WANG Wei (701-761 Tang Dynasty)　
They go with the sun to harvest lotus seeds
On the long shoal and come home at nightfall.
Punting your pole gentle,
Or the splash will wet the pink lotus skirt.

　　This is of course not at all an erotic poem, but we can safely call it a genre poem. Well, in that case, some erotic innuendo is inevitable. In fact, picking up lotus seeds has always been the play among girls. In Chinese pronunciation, there are many words referring to "lotus," but only "lian" (莲) is always played on the pun with another word 怜 (compassion) or even 恋 (attachment, lingering affection). When a lotus root is cut, there will be "threads" 丝 connecting, which in turn gives to an idiom 藕断丝连 (lotus root cut thread connected), and in the idiom, "threads" is a pun on "thoughts" 思 (missing or thinking of someone). There is never too much love association with lotus in traditional Chinese culture. The lotus seed is written as 莲子, which can be a pun to imply “compassion for you,” or 莲心 (lotus heart) which can be a pun to imply “pity for my heart.” Lotus seed contains a bitter “core,” which provides a ready metaphor for bittersweet love, especially for unrequited love or unfulfilled love (as a concubine’s). In this sense, picking lotus seed-pods can always be understood as a metaphor for love-making, or an act to show the readiness to be in love. To get wet is therefore something like the broken pitcher in western arts. Refer to Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s painting.

法国画家格鲁兹(1725-1805)暗示失贞的《破壶》The Broken Pitcher (1763)

For a more folk song style poem, let us read another Tang poet Wang Changling.

　采莲曲
　　　　王昌龄（698-756）
　　　一
吴姬越艳楚王妃，争弄莲舟水湿衣。
来时浦口花迎入，采罢江头月送归。

　　　二
荷叶罗裙一色裁，芙蓉向脸两边开。
乱入池中看不见，闻歌始觉有人来。

　　Song of Picking Lotus Seeds
　　　　　　　　　　[Tang Dynasty] Wang Changling (698-756)
　　　I
Wu girls, Yue beauties, and concubines from Chu kings,
All eager to play the boats and wet their clothes.
They come through the opening to the welcoming flowers,
And return by the river-dock upon the moon’s goodbyes.

Note: Wu is the area around Suzhou, and Yue is the area around Hangzhou, two places traditionally reputed for beauties in the Southern Yangtze area (江南 River south), while Chu refers to the area around Dongting Lake in Hubei Province, a fertile land in the mid-stream of The Yangtze (The Long River).

　　II
Silk skirt with lotus-leave patterns of a pure color and good cut,
Lotus flowers bloom on both sides of the picker’s face.
Randomly, they enter the pond and disappear from sight,
Only their singing tells that there are souls coming out.

The (perhaps imposed) self-awareness of the lotus-seed-picking girl is explicitly rendered in Li Bai’s (Li Po) poem “Song of a Yue Girl.”

　　越女词
　　　　　　　李白(701-762)
耶溪采莲女，见客棹舟回。
笑入荷花去，佯羞不出来。
Girls picking lotus-seed on Yeruo Lake,
They oar back into the flowers, laughing,
When seeing strangers on the bank.
They do not come out, faking abashment.

DU Mu: Ice-Blocked Bian River

A Seven-Word Quatrain by DU Mu (AD 803-852, Tang Dynasty)

Chinese Original

　　　汴河阻冻
　　　　　　　【唐】杜牧
千里长河初冻时，玉珂瑗珮响参差。
浮生恰似冰底水，日夜东流人不知。

Word-by-Word Exegesis 逐字注

　　汴Bian 河River 阻Stop 冻Freeze/ Ice
　　　　　　　　【唐】杜牧 (Tang) DU Mu
千thousand 里li (half a km) 长long 河river 初begin 冻freeze 时time
玉jade 珂a bridle ornament 瑗big-hole jade 珮 jade pendant响click 参差irregular
浮floating 生life 恰just 似akin 冰ice 底beneath 水water
日day 夜night 东east 流flow 人man 不no 知know

Literal translation 直译
　　　Ice-Blocked Bian River
　　　　　　　　　　　　by DU Mu ( 803-852, Tang Dynasty)
By now, the thousand-mile river begins to freeze
And it sounds as the jade pedants on the horse and me clash
What a floating life is but the water beneath ice
Flowing eastward day and night without anyone’s notice

Back-translation 回译
　　此时，千里的河流开始结冰
　　发出声响，犹如马与我身上的玉珮彼此撞击
　　浮生，除了像冰下的水之外，还能是什么
　　日夜想东流去，没有人注意


My Rewriting我的改写

　　　Composed by a Frozen River
Winter offers a vaster view, as rivers freeze
And flatten out to the borderless horizon.
Jade pendants on the bridle and the sword by my side
Do not need a cutting wind to sound like cracking ice.
Only the water beneath ice cannot be heard, running still,
But isn’t it like the drift of life over it?
--- To the east, to the west, in the broad daylight,
Under the black cloak of night.

Back-Translation of My Rewriting 我的改写回译

　　　　写于冰河边
　冬天呈现更为宽广的视野，河流结冰
　向着没有边际的地平线展平
　马缰绳上的玉佩和我腰侧的剑
　无需刺骨的寒风也能发出裂冰一样的响声
　只有那冰下的水无人听见，静静地流淌
　可它不正如流浪其上的人生么
　——向东，向西，在光天化日之下
　也以夜晚的黑色斗篷遮掩

Huang Jing Ren: Impromptu on the Eve of 1773

Huang Jing Ren: Impromptu on the Eve of 1773

　　癸巳除夕偶成（二）
　　　　　　　黄景仁 1749-1783
年年此夕费吟呻，儿女灯前窃笑频。
汝辈何知吾自悔，枉抛心力作诗人。

其二 No. II
年year　年year　此this　夕even　费waste/cost　吟compose　呻murmur
儿son　女daughter　灯lamp　前before　窃privately　笑laugh　频frequent汝you　辈generation　何how　知know　吾I　自self　悔regret
枉vainly　抛throw　心heart　力strength　作become　诗poetry　人man

　　　Impromptu on the Eve of 1773
　　　　　　　　　Huang Jingren (1749-1783 Qing Dynasty)
Every year on this eve I try hard to compose poems,
Children in the lamplight can barely hide their laughs.
How can your generation know the regret I harbor
For the heart-effort I have wasted on becoming a poet?

Version II 另一译本
　　　Poem on the Eve
It’s the last eve of the year. Again.
No need to save for another say the meagre verve left.
I may use more than that for just another poem,
And my children think otherwise, in the festive light
Their laughing faces colorful and bright.
How can they know the regret I’ve nurtured
For more years than their age
That becoming a poet is to discharge heart-blood into a river of time?

Back-translation 回译

　　　除夕之诗
一年的最后一夜。又一年了。
已无必要将残留的一点生气省给明天。
我可以用更多精力再写一首诗，
可孩子们不这么想，节庆的彩灯下
他们的笑脸如此亮丽。
这么多年的后悔，超过了他们的年纪，
他们又怎么能懂？写诗，
不过就是将心血释放进时间之河。

Huang Jing Ren: Written on a New Year Eve

Huang Jing Ren (1749-1783): Written on a New Year Eve

　　癸巳除夕偶成
　　　　　　　黄景仁 1749-1783
　　　　其一
千家笑语漏迟迟，忧患潜从物外知。
悄立市桥人不识，一星如月看多时。

Word-by-word exegesis 逐字注释

　癸巳the Year of 1773除夕New Year’s Eve偶occasional成product
　　　　其一 No. I
千thousand　家home　笑laugh　语word　漏waterclock　迟late/stagnant迟
忧worry　患suffer　潜steak　从into　物material/matter　外external　知know
悄quietly　立stand　市market　桥bridge　人person　不no　识recognize
一one　星star　如like　月moon　看watch　多much　时time

One version译稿一

　　　Impromptu on the Eve of 1773
　　　　　　　　　Huang Jingren (1749-1783)

A thousand houses are full of laughter while waterclock is stilled;
Apprehensions sneak in from the external matters and make themselves felt.
He stands mute on a marketplace bridge, where no one knows his face;
A lone star high there like the moon, at which he has gazed for hours.

Back-Translation into Contemporary Chinese 现代汉语回译:
　　　一千户人家都充满了笑声，而水漏凝滞；
　　　忧惧从外物之下溜出来，令人感到其存在。
　　　他沉默地站在市集中心的桥上，无人认识他；
　　　一颗孤星高挂着，如月亮，他凝视了几个小时。


Another Version 译稿二

　　Written on a New Year’s Eve
　　　　　　　　　　　Huang Jingren (Qing Dynasty)
Night is so late that waterclock is stagnant
Amid the laughter in every house.
Worldly comforts know not what from them has seeped
As apprehensions in my mind.
I stand mute on a marketplace bridge, over which
Not a single passing soul knows me.
A lone star hangs there, and I gaze long at it,
As if it were the moon.

Back-Translation into Contemporary Chinese 现代汉语回译

　　除夕偶成
夜这么迟了，在千家万户的欢笑中
水漏凝滞了。
物质的安乐不会知道有什么从它们之下
渗出，转化为我的忧惧。
我沉默地站在市集的桥上，来往的人
没一个知道我。
一颗孤星挂在那儿，我久久地盯着，
似乎它是月亮。

Notes and comments附注与解评
　　The last two lines of the Chinese original have been highly appreciated, and they are actually a creative rewriting from a Tang poet. Yuan Zhen (779-831) had two quatrains for a Buddhist master Zhi Du, one of which reads:
　　　Three times fallen, you thought way out;
　　　Armors cast off, you take on a monk’s robe.
　　　Even by Heavenly Ferry Bridge no one knows you,
　　　And you lean against the balustrade, free to gaze into the afterglow.
本诗最后两行为人称道欣赏，而这两行却是唐代诗人元稹的一首诗化过来的。元稹诗【智度师二首】其二：
　　　　　　三陷思明三突围，铁衣抛尽衲禅衣。
　　　　　　天津桥下无人识，闲凭栏杆望落晖。
　　The two quatrains were later cobbled into one quatrain, and attributed to a rebel Huang Chao (?-884), whose uprising was one of the biggest in Tang Dynasty. It was rumored that Huang failed and entered into monkhood. He wrote a quatrain as a self-portraiture, the first line of which was taken from Yuan Zhen’s first quatrain for Master Zhidu. Yuan’s line reads “forty years ago you fly on a horse,” which was changed into “Remember I once flew over grasses in my days.” The changed line is charged with an obvious rebellious voice of an outlaw.
元稹这两首诗还被后人拼凑为一首诗，托为黄巢事败之后当和尚时写的【自题像】
　　　记得当年草上飞，铁衣著尽著僧衣。
　　　天津桥上无人识，独倚栏干看落晖。
而第一句原是元稹的前一首的第一句“四十年前马上飞”。诚如南怀瑾所言，“马上飞”是一种豪气，而一旦变成了“草上飞”立即令人感到一股匪气。
　By the way, Huang Chao did write a poem “Ode to Chrysanthemums,” which was composed in his heydays when his army was besieging the capital city Chang’an of Tang (the present day Xi’an). The poem reads:
　　　Wait till autumn comes, wait for the eighth of the ninth month;
　　　My flower will bloom, and every flower of the hundred perishes.
　　　The array of fragrance will fill every corner of Chang’an,
　　　And everyone in the whole city will wear armors of gold.
The last line of Huang’s original Chinese was taken by film director Zhang Yimou for his visual spectacle Curse of the Golden Flower (starring Chow Yun-fat and Gong Li). The film appears to be set in that time too.
　　顺便指出，黄巢确实写过诗，最著名的一首是《咏菊》：
　　　　　待到秋来九月八，我花开后百花杀。
　　　　　冲天香阵透长安，满城尽带黄金甲。
这最后一行被电影导演张艺谋用来作为他的电影名字，而那部电影的时间背景也设在那个时代。

Monk Yikong: Untitled

　　　　无题
　　　　　　　　【唐】依空
三十年来寻剑客，几回落叶又抽枝。
自从一见桃花后，直至如今更不疑。

诗人简介：俗名志勤，生卒年不详，唐朝禅师。

Word-by-word exegesis 逐字注：

　　　无题No title
　　　　【唐】依空 Yikong (Relying on Emptiness)
三three　十ten　年year　来so far　寻search　剑sword　客man/ guest
几several　回times　落fallen　叶leaves　又again　抽shoot　枝twig
自ever　从since　一one/ the first　见see　桃peach　花flower　后after
直till　至to　如今now　更still (more)　不not　疑doubt

Literal rendition字面直译
For thirty years I’ve been a man after the swordsman life,
For several times fallen leaves grow back on the twigs.
Ever since the time I saw peach flowers,
Even till today I have no doubt about them.

Free translation 意译

　　　Untitled
　　　　Yikong (Zen Monk Leaning-Against-Emptiness, from Tang Dynasty)
For thirty years, being a man trying to lead a swordsman’s vain life,
As fallen leaves have grown back on twigs for several rounds.
Of all the encounters, the first glimpse of peach flowers
Is undoubtedly the one and only of our meeting.

Back-translation into Contemporary Chinese当代汉语回译

　　　　无题
三十年了，总想过着剑客的虚荣生活，
而落叶已数次重又长在树枝上。
所有的邂逅中，第一眼瞥见桃花
无疑是我们惟一的相遇。

Tang Dynasty Poem: Early Wintersweet

Early Wintersweet: A Poem by a Tang Dynasty Poet

　　　　　早梅
　　　　　　　　　【唐】张谓
一树寒梅白玉条，迥临村落傍溪桥。
应缘近水花先发，疑是经冬雪未消。


Word-by-word Exegesis 逐字注释
一one　树tree　寒cold　梅plum/wintersweet　白white　玉jade　条twig
迥far　临by　村village　落residence　傍lean againt　溪stream　桥bridge
应should　缘due to　近close　水water　花flower　先first　发shoot
疑suspect　是be　经over　冬winter　雪snow　未not yet　消melt


　　Early Wintersweet
　　　　　　　Zhang Wei (Active around 767, Tang Dynasty)
A lone shrub of cold wintersweet
Leans against the bridge over the stream;
Away from the village,
Its white jade offshoots neglected.
The buds closer to the water
Bloom first,
But they are perhaps taken for frozen snow
Yet to melt.


Back-translation to contemporary Chinese现代汉语回译

　　　早梅
一株寒梅孤单单的，
倚靠在溪流上的小桥边；
远离了村舍，
它白玉的枝条也被人忽视。
离水近的蓓蕾
先绽放了，
可它们恐怕被错看成了结冰的雪，
有待消融。

Huang Jingren: Song of a Youth

　　　Song of a Youth
(One of the earliest poems by Huang Jingren)

Original Poem (Quatrain in seven characters) 七言绝句

　　少年行
　　　　黄景仁
男儿作健向沙场，
自爱登台不望乡。
太白高高天尺五，
宝刀明月共辉光。

注释：
乾隆三十一年（1766年）冬，十八岁的诗人离家，到扬州游学。这是诗人旅途所作。
作健：用典自古乐府《企喻歌》：男儿欲作健，结伴不须多。
台：指单于台，在今内蒙古呼和浩特市西。在此用典《资治通鉴·汉纪》，汉武帝元封元年（前110年）“出长城，北登单于台”。登台指古代征人久戍不归，登高怀念家乡。
太白，是秦岭主峰，山顶终年积雪不化。

Word-by-word Exegesis:

　　少Young　年Year/Age 行Song
男儿man　作to be/act　健valorous　向toward　沙sand　场field
自by self　爱love　登climb　台terrace/tower　不not　望look at　乡hometown
太白Taibai (Mount)　高high　高high　天sky　尺a foot　五five
宝precious　刀sword　明bright　月moon　共together　辉radiance　光light

My Rendition 我的翻译

　　Song of a Youth
　　　　　　　　HUANG Jingren (1749-1783 Qing Dynasty)
A man should be valorous and gallant,
Always ready for the battlefield;
His passion for climbing is never
To be squandered on the ache for hearth.
Five feet more, the Ethereal Blanc Mount
Will touch the sky, and he, atop there,
Alone, marvels at his precious sword
That shines cold under the moonlight.

This is a poem written when the poet was 18 years old in 1766. He was to Yangzhou, at a study journey. One dusk, he climbed a hill, looking around, and found nothing inspiring.

Back-Translation 回译：

　　青年的歌

男人，该勇武、豪侠，
随时准备上战场。
他热衷于登高，这激情
绝不浪费于家居生活。
太白山再高五尺
就会碰到天空，而他
独立其上，把玩宝剑，
欣赏它在月下闪着寒光。