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The Journey to the West

Though we journey to the West We pray to the East More or less that's the way Each day begins and ends It’s a tale everyone ...

Friday, June 29, 2018

Thoughts from a High Tower (by Wang Wei)

Wang Wei is most often heralded as a great nature poet, one of the most important early contributors to the tradition of Mountain and Stream poetry (山水詩) in Chinese literature.  But Wang had great range in his life and poetry, and covered a lot of ground in the subjects he addressed, writing not only about the countryside but also about the metropolitan centers of Chang'An and Luoyang, which were the twin capital cities of the Tang empire.

This is a landscape poem Wang wrote that addresses a distinctly human theme.  Written from high atop a tower that overlooked a river valley, dotted with villages and well-tended farmland, this poem resonates with a kind of anomie and almost sounds as if could have been written standing atop the observation deck of a modern skyscraper gazing out over the urban sprawl below.


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With Minister Wu Lang in the West Tower Pondering the Distant Vista

     

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Gazing from this high tower
Thoughts come and go
Eyes reach for the extremity
Yet still it eludes their grasp

A thousand mile vista
A snug pillow for rest 
A window from which to survey
Ten thousand rooms in a glance

Down through the ages
All these strangers passing by
Hurrying deep into the obscurity
Of some distant time and place   

Deep sorrow resides there
Along the riverbank
In a remote farmstead where
A solitary column of smoke rises

You can see the order of it
Everything neatly arranged
Thoughts proceed below
Following a well-trod path

But of my native place
It is nowhere to be seen
Just clouds and rain and emptiness
As if it were all one thing 






和使君五郎西楼望



高楼望所思     目极情未
枕上千里     窗中万室
悠悠路人     暧暧远郊日
极浦外     孤烟出
属上才     同下秩
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不可     云水空如一

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Garden Lament (by Du Mu)

One of the recurring themes of Tang poetry is the garden lament, which strikes me as most apt this time of year, as the azaleas and rhododendrons and peonies are now completely spent, and we're still waiting for the hydrangeas and lilies to hit full stride.  So here is a garden lament from the great Du Mu that I hope will tide us over until the next incoming wave of blossoms has a chance to assume full form.




Flower Lament

How I regret the pursuit of fragrance
That’s already almost completely spent

In former years what once was seen
Well before the blossom opened

Just today the wind has stripped bare
Leaving the bough a disorderly mess

As bit actors now emerge from the shade
Preparing to play their role on the branch


     



即事
杜牧

小院无人雨
庭修竹疏槐
春愁兀兀成幽梦
又被流莺唤醒来



And here's my own attempt at a lament for late June - a time of transition, on the verge of high summer, when along with the grubs and mealy bugs that descend on the garden, time's winged chariot first seems to draw near.

In late June
The green leaves
Basking in morning light
Have overleaped time and 
Grown golden in hue already
Dreaming of their transport

And the family of swans
Swimming in stately fashion
On the glittering waterway
Have assembled as if to mourn 
The summer's passage