A Dream of Blue House Street

I'm trying to resume the more regular practice of translating Chinese poetry.  It's such a great way to start the day.  Clinical studies have proven that a stanza of lyrical truth provides more stimulation than a cup and a half of the strongest dark roast.

Today's translation is of a poem by the Tang poet Du Mu.

Dispatched from the Heart

Down and out

By rivers and lakes

A bottle of wine in hand

A slender girl

With a narrow waist

Light in the palm of my hand

Ten years is

A long time to nap

Even to dream of Yangzhou

Laying claim to a place

On Blue House street

Is only a meager reward

遣懷

落魄江湖載酒行

楚腰纖細掌中輕

 
十年一覺揚州夢

贏得青樓薄倖名