Monday, March 4, 2013

From Cold Mountain to the Streets of Manhattan

I've just published a new issue of my Tang Spirit newsletter that includes new translations of poems by Han Shan.  Part of my current interest in Han Shan stems from the similarities I sense between his life in seclusion on a remote mountaintop and the life of my friend, Richard Musto, who lives on the streets of Manhattan.   Here's one of the poems I translated:


It’s funny how
Cold Mountain path
Proceeds along
Without a trace of
Horses and carts

As streams
Come together
It’s hard to remember
All their twists and turns
And the layers of peaks
That loom in the distance
Unknowable

The dew weeps
Upon a thousand
Blades of grass
And the wind
Moans in sync
With the pines


Here the path leads
To a bewildering place
Where each form asks
Of its shadow
From whence
It has come

可笑寒山道
而无车马

谿难记
叠嶂不知重

泣露千般草


You can find the full newsletter on the Tang Spirit website by clicking here. 

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