Sunday, November 12, 2017

The Water Song (by Su Dong Po)

Approaching the middle of November, here is a poem for the holiday season, which is almost upon us.  This is a song for the celebration of the mid-autumn festival by the great Chinese poet Su Dong Po; it was composed while he was joyfully carousing to the break of dawn, thinking of Zi You, his younger brother


O bright moon
What time do you have?
I raise my wine to ask
Of the blue heavens
Unsure what year it is
In the celestial realm

I long to ride the winds
Back to your lonely jade palace
It’s chilly up there for sure

Rising to dance
Everything looks
Perfectly clear
Down here in the
Mortal realm

A spinning
Colorful pavilion
The silk banners
Suspended from the doorway
Shining and sleepless
There’s no point
Feeling regret
No matter how long
Since you’ve departed
The hour of fullness
Comes round again

Human joy and sorrow
Each in its turn
The moon has
Its phases too
Overcast or clear
Waxing or crescent
It’s been that way forever
Hard to grasp the wholeness
If only we can have enough time
Whether far distant or together
In this graceful moonlight





水调歌头

丙辰中秋,欢饮达旦,大醉,作此篇。兼怀子由。


明月几时有
把酒问青天
不知天上宫阙
今夕是何年
我欲乘风归去
又恐琼楼玉宇
高处不胜寒
起舞弄清影
何似在人间

转朱阁
低绮户
照无眠
不应有恨
何事长向别时圆
人有悲欢离合
月有阴晴圆缺
此事古难全
但愿人长久
千里共婵娟


*  *  *  *  *


The Tang Spirit of autumn lives on.  You can see it on display in New York City on the corner of 7th Avenue and 27th Street where my friend Steve Zhang inscribed his toast to Zhuang Zhou on the façade of the FIT building (where Steve is on the faculty).    


Reborn as a butterfly
Zhuang fluttered
A thousand miles
In the bright moonlight
By the Big River
Let’s raise our glasses

生蝴蝶迷千里
明月大江酹一尊


In this poetic fragment Steve has included allusions to some of the most important images in Chinese poetry – the dream of Zhuang Zhou, as well as famous lyrics by Li Shang Yin and Su Dong Po.  In any case, as you can see, we have our own compact circle of modern day Tang poetry, and more than a millennium after the fall of the last Tang emperor, we’re still hoisting our glasses in the spirit of autumn’s brilliant moonlight.





-->

No comments:

Post a Comment