Some Tang octaves
Translated by TIEN TRAN
Updated 11/29/2023
Warwick, RI
Some famous Tang octaves or eight-line poems known as regulated verse 律詩 or lüshi. The poems are best appreciated as sequences of four highly wrought and quite distinct couplets. I was working on these translations, before being derailed by the monster that is Du Fu. Most of these poems can be found in Sun Zhu’s 300 Tang Poems.
Table of Contents
- Matching Jinling Deputy Official Lu: Traveling View in Early Spring (Du Shenyan)
- Seeing off Vice-Prefect Du Going to His Post in Shuchuan (Wang Bo)
- Overnight at Longxing Temple (Qiwu Qian)
- Mountain Home in Autumn Twilight (Wang Wei)
- On Returning to Mount Song (Wang Wei)
- Answering Vice-Prefect Zhang (Wang Wei)
- Looking for Monk Wang's Hermit Dwelling (Li Bai)
- Seeing off a Friend (Li Bai)
- Not Finding Dai Tianshan, Daoist (Li Bai)
- Crossing Jingmen Saying Goodbye (Li Bai)
- On the Ninth Climbing Immortal-Lookout Terrace: Presented to District Magistrate Liu (Cui Shu)
- Passing through Huayin (Cui Hao)
- Not Finding Lu Hongxian at Home (Jiaoran)
- Evening Coming to Huchi District (Wei Yingwu)
- To a Daoist in the Mountains of Quanjiao (Wei Yingwu)
- Evening Coming to Yuzhou (Lu Lun)
- To a Friend Lost in Tibet (Zhang Ji)
- Temple of the First King of Shu (Liu Yuxi)
- Lodging on the Road (Du Mu)
- Early Fall (Xu Hun)
- Inlaid Zither (Li Shangyin)
- Untitled [Your coming was a lie] (Li Shangyin)
- Untitled [East wind blustering] (Li Shangyin)
- Untitled [Meeting is hard] (Li Shangyin)
- Gentle Thoughts (Li Shangyin)
- Night Thoughts on Zhang Terrace (Wei Zhuang)
- Spring Palace Complaint (Du Xunhe)
- Lone Goose (Cui Tu)
- Testimony at Yingwu Isle (Cui Tu)
和晉陵陸丞早春遊望
獨有宦遊人
偏驚物候新
雲霞出海曙
梅柳渡江春
淑氣催黃鳥
晴光轉綠蘋
忽聞歌古調
歸思欲霑巾
Matching Jinling Deputy Official Lu: Traveling View in Early Spring
One traveling to his post alone
Truly marvels at the newness of things
Clouds, vapors exit seas’ dawn
Plums, willows cross the river in spring
Warm air hurries yellow birds
Clear sunlight mobilizes green ferns
Suddenly I hear an old melody sung
Think of returning and brim with tears
Notes
“Matching” means that this was written in response to a poem by another official, taking the same subject and employing the same rhyme – a practice of court poetry.
送杜少府之任蜀州
城闕輔三秦
風煙望五津
與君離別意
同是宦遊人
海內存知己
天涯若比鄰
無為在歧路
兒女共沾巾
Seeing off Vice-Prefect Du Going to His Post in Shuchuan
Fortress towers defend Three Qin
Windblown mists guard Five Harbors
With you I’m mindful of goodbye
Both traveling to our posts
But within the seas our friendship endures
That, horizons apart, we’d be as neighbors
Let’s not dwell where the road forks
Like women or children shedding tears
宿龍興寺
香剎夜忘歸
松青古殿扉
燈明方丈室
珠繫比丘衣
白日傳心靜
青蓮喻法微
天花落不盡
處處鳥銜飛
Overnight at Longxing Temple
Fragrant temple, night I forget to return
Pine-dark, the old temple door
Lanterns light up the Abbot’s hall
Rosaries hang on monks’ robes
The bright sun teaches mind’s peace
A blue lotus expounds divine Law
From the sky, petals endlessly falling
Everywhere, birds pick them up flying
Notes
Law is the Chinese translation of “dharma.” In Buddhism, the blue lotus symbolizes the victory of mind or soul over the senses. The final image ecstatically transforms a common motif – visionary petals fall and are caught midair, by birds that fly off with them as with nesting material or food.
山居秋暝
空山新雨後
天氣晚來秋
明月松間照
清泉石上流
竹喧歸浣女
蓮動下漁舟
隨意春芳歇
王孫自可留
Mountain Home in Autumn Twilight
Empty hills after new rain
In air this late, fall comes
A bright moon shines among pines
The clear stream flows over rocks
Bamboos clamor – washer women return
Lotuses stir – a fishing boat descends
Let spring fragrances end
Noble one, you may linger on
歸嵩山作
清川帶長薄
車馬去閑閑
流水如有意
暮禽相與還
荒城臨古渡
落日滿秋山
迢遞嵩高下
歸來且閉關
On Returning to Mount Song
The clear stream bears tall brush
My carriage goes in leisure
Flowing waters seem full of feelings
Evening birds keep me company returning
A desolate town overlooks the old ferry
Late sunlight covers autumn hills
Faraway, under Mount Song high
I come home and close the gate
酬張少府
晚年惟好靜
萬事不關心
自顧無長策
空知返舊林
松風吹解帶
山月照彈琴
君問窮通理
漁歌入浦深
Answering Vice-Prefect Zhang
Old age prizes only quietness
The world’s affairs no longer trouble my heart
I see for myself without prior schemes
Knowing nothing, I return to the old woods
Winds through the pines loosen one’s belt
Mountain moonlight is for playing the qin
You ask about the ultimate truth
A fisherman’s song enters the deep cove
尋雍尊師隱居
群峭碧摩天
逍遙不記年
撥雲尋古道
倚石聽流泉
花暖青牛臥
松高白鶴眠
語來江色暮
獨自下寒煙
Looking for Monk Wang’s Hermit Dwelling
Crowded peaks, turquoise, brush heaven
He lives free, not counting the years
Parting clouds, I look for the old way
Against a tree listen to the running stream
In warm shade, black oxen rest
In high pines, white cranes sleep
We talk till day grows late
Alone I descend through cold mists
送友人
青山橫北郭
白水遶東城
此地一為別
孤蓬萬里征
浮雲游子意
落日故人情
揮手自茲去
蕭蕭班馬鳴
Seeing off a Friend
Green hills line northern ramparts
White waters circle the eastern wall
In this place we must say goodbye
Like thistledown travel countless miles
Floating clouds are wanderers’ mind
The setting sun, an old friend’s heart
A wave of the hand and each goes
Stray horses make mournful cries
訪戴天山道士不遇
犬吠水聲中
桃花帶露濃
樹深時見鹿
溪午不聞鐘
野竹分青靄
飛泉掛碧峰
無人知所去
愁倚兩三松
Not Finding Dai Tianshan, Daoist
A dog barks in the sound of water
Peach blossoms bear clustered dew
In deep forest, briefly I see deer
At the noonday creek, hear no bells
Wild bamboo divides the green mist
A flying stream hangs from emerald peaks
Where he’s gone to no one knows
Dejected, I lean against a few pines
渡荊門送別
渡遠荊門外
來從楚國游
山隨平野盡
江入大荒流
月下飛天鏡
雲生結海樓
仍憐故鄉水
萬裡送行舟
Crossing Jingmen Saying Goodbye
Crossing beyond distant Jingmen
I’ve come to tour the lands of Chu
Mountains on the flat plains disperse
The river into a great wilderness flows
The moon falls, flying mirror of the sky
Clouds rise, forming pavilions in air
Still I brood on the waters of my homeland
Sending boats these countless miles away
九日登望仙臺呈劉明府
漢文皇帝有高臺
此日登臨曙色開
三晉雲山皆北向
二陵風雨自東來
關門令尹誰能識
河上仙翁去不回
且欲竟尋彭澤宰
陶然共醉菊花杯
On the Ninth Climbing Immortal-Lookout Terrace: Presented to District Magistrate Liu
Emperor Wen of the Han built this high terrace
I climb up today to see the brightening of dawn
Cloudy mountains of three Jin districts run north
Over Twin Mounds, a storm arrives from the east
Who may know Yin, Guardian of the Pass
On the river, the Immortal went and never returned
Then let me find the Magistrate of Pengze
And carefree, drink with this man chrysanthemum-scented cups
Notes
Yin Xi was guardian of the pass through which Laozi (the Immortal) went into the West (never to return) and the recipient of his teachings. During Tang times he was elevated to the position of being a sage himself with unique access to Daoist wisdom.
The Magistrate of Pengze refers to Tao Qian, revered poet of the 4th century, known for his love of wine and chrysanthemums in idealistic reclusion. Tao’s experience of mortality and death wasn’t exactly Daoist, nor did he seek immortality in things outside of this world.
行經華陰
岧嶢太華俯咸京
天外三峰削不成
武帝祠前雲欲散
仙人掌上雨初晴
河山北枕秦關險
驛路西連漢畤平
借問路傍名利客
無如此處學長生
Passing through Huayin
Taihua, towering, looks down toward Hanjing
Three peaks in outer atmosphere, not by carving made
Before Wudi’s Shrine, clouds are parting
Above the Immortal’s Palm, rain has just cleared
Northern ranges prop up dangerous Qin gates
Highways west connect Han altars on the plains
O traveler on the road, seeker of profit or fame
What if we settled here, studied immortality
尋陸鴻漸不遇
移家雖帶郭
野徑入桑麻
近種籬邊菊
秋來未著花
扣門無犬吠
欲去問西家
報到山中去
歸來每日斜
Not Finding Lu Hongxian at Home
You moved house, out of the city
A rural path led me into mulberry and hemp
Newly planted mums along the fence
Weren’t yet blooming, when fall had come
I knocked, but not even a dog barked
And went to ask your neighbor to the west
He said you go into the mountains
Returning everyday at sunset
Notes
Not finding so-and-so at home was a common theme and occasion for poetry. The final line often suggests something about the character of the person who can’t be found.
夕次盱眙縣
落帆逗淮鎮
停舫臨孤驛
浩浩風起波
冥冥日沈夕
人歸山郭暗
雁下蘆洲白
獨夜憶秦關
聽鐘未眠客
Evening Coming to Huchi District
I lowered sail, stopping at Huai Town
For harbor found the lonesome station
Gusting winds whipped up waves
The sun grew dim and then set
Folk turned home on dark hillsides
Geese flew down to an island of white weeds
Alone at night, I think of Qin passes
Listening to the temple bell, a sleepless guest
寄山中全椒道士書
今朝郡宅冷
忽念山中客
澗底束荊薪
歸來煮白石
欲持一瓢酒
遠慰風雨夕
落葉滿空山
何處尋行蹟
To a Daoist in the Mountains of Quanjiao
This morning the offices are cold
Suddenly I think of one in the mountains
In a creek-bed gathering brambly wood
Returning to cook white stones
I want to bring him a gourd of wine
To help pass stormy evenings
But leaves falling cover empty mountains
And where can I look for the trail
Notes
White stones – of Daoist alchemy and food of adepts.
晚次鄂州
雲開遠見漢陽城
猶是孤帆一日程
估客晝眠知浪靜
舟人夜語覺潮生
三湘愁鬢逢秋色
萬里歸心對月明
舊業已隨征戰盡
更堪江上鼓鼙聲
Evening Coming to Yuzhou
Clouds part, I see Hanyang City in the distance
The lone sail, however, still has another day to go
Travelers nap in the daytime, knowing that waves are calm
Boatmen talk at night, aware of the rising tide
In Sanxing, dejected, I run into autumn scenery
Returning countless miles, I face the bright moon
My former career ended because of war
Still on the river I hear the sound of war drums
沒蕃故人
前年伐月支
城下沒全師
蕃漢斷消息
死生長別離
無人收廢帳
歸馬識殘旗
欲祭疑君在
天涯哭此時
To a Friend Lost in Tibet
Last year we attacked Yuezhi
Below the city, the troops were wiped out
Tibet, China – news between cut off
Forever separated, the living and the dead
No one recovered the fallen tents
Horses coming back announced our defeat
I bow, doubting if you survived
Weeping this time at the horizon
蜀先主廟
天地英雄氣
千秋尚凜然
勢分三足鼎
業復五銖錢
得相能開國
生兒不象賢
淒涼蜀故妓
來舞魏宮前
Temple of the First King of Shu
In this world the spirit of a hero
For a thousand years lives mightily
With power divided, a tripod
You worked to restore the currency
The Premier opened up your kingdom
But your son was unreliable
Wretched, Shu’s singing girls
Came to dance before the palaces of Wei
Notes
Power divided refers to the tripartite division of China, in the aftermath of the Han Dynasty, among the states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. The Premier is Zhuge Liang.
旅宿
旅館無良伴
凝情自悄然
寒燈思舊事
斷雁警愁眠
遠夢歸侵曉
家書到隔年
滄江好煙月
門繫釣魚船
Lodging on the Road
In this inn, without a friend
Stagnant thoughts turn melancholy
The cold lamp recalls things past
A lost goose keeps me awake
Distant dreams – I return at dawn
Letters from home – a whole year apart
Cold river lovely in mist and moonlight
And at the gate, a tied up fishing boat
早秋
遙夜汎清瑟
西風生翠蘿
殘螢栖玉露
早雁拂銀河
高樹曉還密
遠山晴更多
淮南一葉下
自覺洞庭波
Early Fall
Long night – echoes the cold zither
West wind – sprout green vines
Dim fireflies yield to jade-white dew
Early geese cut across the Milky Way
Tall trees darken again at dawn
Distant hills multiply in brightness
In Huainan a leaf falls
And waves rise on Lake Dongting
錦瑟
錦瑟無端五十絃
一絃一柱思華年
莊生曉夢迷蝴蝶
望帝春心託杜鵑
滄海月明珠有淚
藍田日暖玉生煙
此情可待成追憶
只是當時已惘然
Inlaid Zither
The inlaid zither, for no reason, has fifty strings
Each string, each fret, recounts the wonderful years
Zhuangzi at dawn dreamed – enchanted butterfly
Emperor Wang’s spring passion – entrusted to a cuckoo
In green seas, the moon shines, pearls cry tears
On blue fields, sunlight warms, jade gives off smoke
This passion may abide, become a cherished memory
In the moment, however, it has grown tedious
Notes
(1) The Pure Maid (Sunü 素女) played a 50-stringed zither for the Yellow Emperor, who found its music too much and divided the zither in half, to make two smaller instruments. (2) The philosopher Zhuangzi dreamed that he was a butterfly, but upon waking wasn’t sure if he was now the butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuangzi. (3) Emperor Wang of Shu sent his trusted minister to deal with the floods, then had an affair with the minister’s wife; when the latter returned, feeling unworthy, he abdicated the throne and retired into the countryside; sometime later the people looked for him but he had turned into a cuckoo, whose cries evoked longing for one’s homeland. (4) Pearls were said to be mermen’s tears, and also to wax or wane with the moon. (5) The late eighth century poet Dai Shulun was quoted as saying that poetry should be like the smoke produced by the jade at Blue Field (Lantian, outside Chang’an) when the sun is warm; i.e. clearly visible from a distance, but evanescent up close.
An analysis of Li Shangyin’s hermetic imagery is found in Stephen Owen’s The Late Tang: Chinese Poetry of the Mid-Ninth Century (827-860). Despite the density of allusions, English readers have had no trouble connecting with the emotive force of Li Shangyin’s poems about forbidden or illicit love, which, as personal experience, is an uncommon theme in Tang poetry.
無題
來是空言去絕蹤
月斜樓上五更鐘
夢為遠別啼難喚
書被催成墨未濃
蠟照半籠金翡翠
麝薰微度繡芙蓉
劉郎已恨蓬山遠
更隔蓬山一萬重
Untitled
Your coming was a lie, you went without a trace
The moon slants on the tower, the fifth watch knells
From dream-made partings, cries hardly call you back
For a hastily finished letter, the ink does not congeal
The candle’s shine half cages golden kingfishers
Musk fragrance faintly crosses embroidered lotuses
Young Liu already hated Penglai Mountain’s distance
Beyond Penglai are mountains countless layers
Notes
Young Liu indicates, rather contemptuously, Han Wudi, who sought immortality, as found on Penglai, an island of the immortals.
無題
颯颯東風細雨來
芙蓉塘外有輕雷
金蟾嚙鎖燒香入
玉虎牽絲汲井回
賈氏窺簾韓掾少
宓妃留枕魏王才
春心莫共花爭發
一寸相思一寸灰
Untitled
East wind blustering, a fine rain comes
Beyond the lotus pond, there’s light thunder
Golden toad bites the lock — burning incense enters
Jade tiger shepherds silk — drawing water, turns
Jia’s daughter spied through the screen young clerk Han
Consort Mi bequeathed her pillow to the brilliant prince of Wei
Springtime hearts, do not with flowers vie to bud
One inch of longing is an inch of ash
Notes
Golden toad and jade tiger are ornaments on a mansion’s door and well-winch, respectively. Incense indicates a very late hour, and water is drawn at dawn.
The third couplet references the beginning and aftermath, respectively, of two legendary love affairs. Jia’s daughter fell in love with her father’s young assistant; the couple was discovered and forced to marry when her father detected the rare fragrance on him that he had gifted to her. Consort Mi, on the other hand, was forced to marry her lover’s brother, who came to recognize their love after her passing and gave him her pillow.
“Cun,” meaning “inch,” is the proverbial measure of the heart, as in “cunxin,” meaning the bottom of the heart or one’s true feelings.
無題
相見時難別亦難
東風無力百花殘
春蠶到死絲方盡
蠟炬成灰淚始幹
曉鏡但愁雲鬢改
夜吟應覺月光寒
蓬萊此去無多路
青鳥殷勤為探看
Untitled
Having time to meet is hard; parting too is hard
The east wind slackens, flowers wither
Spring silkworms only upon dying sever the thread
Candles have turned to ash before tears are dried
Dawn mirrors singly mourn cloudlike tresses changed
Night chanting surely makes known the cold of moonlight
Penglai from here isn’t a long way off
Blue bird, become wayfinder please
Notes
Tears – The dripping of candlewax was conventionally called tears.
I’ve tried to preserve the economy and parallelism of words in the third couplet. The implied subject of each line is the woman and her lover, respectively. The couplet reads: “Looking in the mirror at dawn, she only worries that her cloudlike (fine) hair is changing (turning white) / Chanting (a poem or text) at night, surely he is aware of the coldness of the moonlight.”
A blue bird is the messenger of the Queen Mother of the West, who bestows immortality and bliss, and therefore also a messenger for lovers. I read the last couplet as being painfully ironic.
涼思
客去波平檻
蟬休露滿枝
永懷當此節
倚立自移時
北斗兼春遠
南陵寓使遲
天涯占夢數
疑誤有新知
Gentle Thoughts
You’re gone, waves calm at my door
Cicadas cease, dew covers the boughs
I think long on this moment
Stand leaning, feeling time pass
Under North Dipper, distant as another spring
It’s going from South Tomb makes you late
A horizon away, I read my dreams
And must be wrong, that you’ve found a new friend
章臺夜思
清瑟怨遙夜
繞絃風雨哀
孤燈聞楚角
殘月下章臺
芳草已云暮
故人殊未來
鄉書不可寄
秋雁又南迴
Night Thoughts on Zhang Terrace
Clear zither laments the long night
Strings sounding the sadness of wind and rain
Lone lamp, where I hear Chu’s horn
The fading moon sinks behind Zhang Terrace
Flowers and plants are grown dark
My dear friend still hasn’t come
Letters home I have no way to send off
It’s autumn, geese are turning south again
Notes
No way to send off... – a variation on the geese as messengers or letter carriers motif; a poetic conceit.
春宮怨
早被嬋娟誤
欲妝臨鏡慵
承恩不在貌
教妾若為容
風暖鳥聲碎
日高花影重
相憶採芙蓉
Spring Palace Complaint
This morning she doubts her beauty
Stares at the mirror, late putting on makeup
Receiving favor results not from appearance
Then how is she to carry herself
In warm wind, birds’ chatter breaks
In high sun, the shadows of flowers increase
Year after year, on a creek in Yue, girls
Are picking hibiscus, dreaming of love
Notes
A late and exquisite variation on the theme of the neglected palace lady. Yue or Southern girls were famous for their beauty and many ended up in the imperial harem. The girls dream of love, not knowing what heartbreak is in store for them.
孤雁
幾行歸塞盡
片影獨何之
暮雨相呼失
寒塘欲下遲
渚雲低暗渡
關月冷相隨
未必逢矰繳
孤飛自可疑
Lone Goose
Several lines have gone over the pass
This slip of shadow goes where by itself
In evening rain their cries are lost
And it would descend on the wintry lake
Low island clouds pass it darkly by
The border moon follows it coldly behind
Until it meets a hunter’s arrow
Fear is its lot, flying alone
鸚鵡洲即事
悵望春襟鬱未開
重臨鸚鵡益堪哀
曹公尚不能容物
黃祖何曾解愛才
幽島暖聞燕雁去
曉江晴覺蜀波來
何人正得風濤便
一點輕帆萬里回
Testimony at Yingwu Isle
Sadly I look upon spring, with troubles unending
Coming to Yingwu again fills me with grief
If Cao Cao could not make use of the subject
Then was Huang Zu to welcome or prize talent
The deserted island warms, noisy with Yan geese leaving
On the early river I wake to brightness, Shu tides arriving
Whoever manages the right current or wind
In one hour his light sail may travel a thousand miles
Notes
Yingwu (Parrot) Isle was reputedly the burial site of a certain Mi Heng, poet-official during the Three Kingdoms period, dismissed by Cao Cao, then killed in anger by Huang Zu. By later accounts, Mi Heng wasn’t a particularly sympathetic fellow, but Tang poets borrowed his story to express their own disappointments.
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