Reaching for the Extremity - by the Daoist poet Yuan Jie (元结)

After a busy week at work, this afternoon I finally had a chance to resume my practice of translating Tang poetry.  I found this little gem of a poem by the Daoist poet Yuan Jie (元结).  I don't know too much about him or his work but the few poems of his I've read so far are infused with the spirit of the Way.  This one almost reads like a gloss on the Chuang Tzu or Dao De Jing and it is full of some wonderful phrases (very difficult to translate), such as the fifth stanza - 假翼兮鸾凤 - which I have rendered as the falsity surrounding the target's center of the virtuous heart.

Reaching for the Extremity

(a poem in contemplation of the origin by the Daoist poet Yuan Jie)

Under Heaven

 A forgotten place

Overrun with weeds

Desolate and vast

But the energy

Is utterly boundless

Although ashen gray

It's always flourishing

Ascending there

What a person finds

Is truly unexpected

A storehouse of

Clarity and solitude

Upon attaining that

Prime and utmost spot

At this primal extremity

The spirit quickens

And distinguishes itself

Just consider

Its singular appearance

Meager and troubling

And barely defined

Yet also consider

From this Vacuity

No harm to the Self

Will come

Even if the heart

Grows agitated

And fear rings out

Remember that

Falsity surrounds

The target's center 

Of the virtuous heart

It’s a long journey

Riding the wind and

Soaring above

Clasp your hands and

Retain vital energy

Hold on to the source

In its richness and depth

Feast there until

You attain full harmony

Which will last forever

And all day

 *  *  *  *

引极三首·思元极

元结

天旷莽兮杳泱茫    气浩浩兮色苍苍
上何有兮人不测    积清寥兮成元极
彼元极兮灵且异    思一见兮藐难致
思不从兮空自伤    心慅兮意惶懹
思假翼兮鸾凤      乘长风兮上羾
揖元气兮本深实    餐至和兮永终日

*  *  *  *

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