Dream from the Mountaintop (Bai Juyi)

It's been almost a month of illness, starting with a bout with Covid, which brought on a debilitating knock-on infection thanks to the cytokine storm.  Now, after two weeks of antibiotics, some semblance of good health has been restored.

Translating a poem seemed like a good way to celebrate.  Somehow when I scroll through the online anthology of Tang poems, I often find a poem perfectly suited to my mood, and that certainly proved to be the case today with this poem by Bai JuYi.

Dream from the Mountaintop  

By BaiJuyi 

 

I dreamed of climbing Mt. Song

Alone, carrying a plant and staff

A thousand cliffs, ten thousand ravines

Wandering the whole terrain

 

I dreamed my feet were flawless

Vigorous as in the days of youth

The magic spirit had restored

Everything as it once was

 

I sensed the spirit indwelling

Ill appearance gave way to health   

Outer and inner realms a mere fantasy

When I woke both seemed unreal

 

 Now in daytime I walk as a cripple

At night I proceed with ease and grace

Night and day are evenly divided

Between all that’s lost and gained

梦上山　

 

白居易

 

夜梦上嵩山    独携藜杖出

千岩与万壑 游览皆周毕

 

梦中足不病    健似少年日

既悟神返初    依然旧形质

 

始知形神内 形病神无疾

形神两是幻 梦寤俱非实

 

昼行虽蹇涩 夜步颇安逸

昼夜既平分 其间何得失

 

 

Autumn Poem

The world is either

Ending or not so simple

As all that on an October day

Perfect in all respects

The asters collectively

Glowing in the afternoon light

The crickets laying claim

To possession

Of whatever remains

Of the earth when

We’re good and well

Done with it Amen

Fall is far more prescient 

Than any other season

Of our species being

In thr age we presently live

The cumulative weight 

of worlds not so different 

From our own

Death too has its own beginning

Middle and end

Everywhere I Look

Everything I touch

Falls apart just as it should

In the compost pile

I’m at that stage in life

Where decay is

Everywhere I look

And that’s okay because

Creation is too

Summer Overspent

 Summer has overspent

All the long stem grasses

Have gone to seed

The Queen Anne’s lace has proliferated

And the afternoon shadows

Overtaken the lawn

About the fall there’s

Little room for doubt

Nor is there need for further effort

Henceforth everything shall

Proceed by grace

I am the River

I am the river

Never one or the same

Time flows through my veins

Rocks are the sort of thing

I simply choose to go around

Yes, I'm persistent

And impetuous

Single minded

But multidirectional

On occasion I've been known 

To reverse myself 

At times I think on a monumental scale

And am perfectly comfortable

Playing the long game

Carving up continents

With the ease of a knife

Passing through butter 

You can follow me upstream

To my native source

Where you'll find

I'm hyper articulate

Though fond of digression 

And forever changing course

Like language itself

I am the river

Never one or the same

Time flows through my veins

Every second another drop

The High Holy Days of Summer

The high holy days

Of summer - the zinnia

Beds in full glory 

The butterflies with

Their anthers full - the humming birds

Incessantly humming

The bucket of cherry tomatoes

Overflowing - the sun drenched

Kiss of hypertrophic growth

Everywhere on display yet

Indolence abounds

And even the red hibiscus

Singing its arias can’t keep me

From succumbing to the 

Swinging cadence of a nap in

The backyard hammock

A Voyage of Discovery

Tonight around twilight

I stood in the garden

And imagined 

I saw the admiral

Garden hose in hand

Addressing the fleet

Tomorrow we set sail

On a voyage of discovery 

He said

The Swiss chard leaves·

Billowed on the breeze 

And the spray of the hose

Spattered across the prow

Of the raised bed

With its semi precious cargo 

Of sugar beets

And altogether there were

Four rows of potatoes

Safely stowed away

Down below

And enough cherry tomatoes

To feed the entire crew

No matter how long

The voyage might 

Turn out to be