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The Journey to the West

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Monday, April 23, 2018

Written in Springtime Amidst the Fields (Wang Wei)


Here's a spring poem from one of my favorites, Wang Wei, celebrating the exhilaration we begin to feel, after a few hours of back-breaking toil, as we begin to clear the fields and lay the groundwork for a new season of growth.



Up on the rooftop in springtime
The turtledoves cry
Alongside the village
The apricot trees shimmer
In their curly white tresses

Swinging a small hatchet to clear
Away the proliferating weeds
Wielding a hoe to muck out
The clogged arteries of the spring

Each year the sparrows return
Knowing well their former nest
So an old man apprises
The tasks of the new year

Like facing a banquet
It’s impossible to resist such a feast
There’s no prospect of sadness
Even for the weariest guest





春中田园作

 

屋上春鸠鸣
杏花白

持斧伐远扬
锄觇泉脉

故巢
旧人看新

临觞忽不御
怅远行客

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