Why I Write (part 3) - poem composed in the waiting room at CityMD clinic

Of agency in its demotic aspect

Never for a moment less than 

Intimate in tone or intent

Indiscreet as a bumble bee

That is what I'm trying to explain

About Why I Write Not Just How 

On a day of the same name

Poetry may be undertaken 

As a spiritual practice

And a craft too I imagine

Not that I'm well practiced 

On either account

But I try to get by

Each day the best I can

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

This is a prompt I've responded to from time to time.  Click here to read part 1 of this poem and here to read part 2.

Song for an Idle Moment - trans. of a poem by Bai Juyi

You know the phrase field of dreams from a novel of the same name by A.P. Kinsella?  Well lately Tang poetry has started to assume the dimensions of a field of dreams for me.  What do I mean by that?  You see, I'm in the process of trying to reestablish the habit of translating a Tang poem every morning -- just what the doctor ordered -- and somehow, at least the way it's worked out so far, over the course of the last few weeks, more often than not, that I have stumbled upon a poem that is perfectly suited to my mood on the occasion.

This is the poem I came across this morning by Bai Juyi. Don't be misled by the title of it.  I find this to be a poem of surprising depth...

  

Song for an Idle Moment

Taking a stroll in the bright

And merciful light of the moon

Along the rows of sleeping pines

How much I love their shade

While the poems of our early years

Tend to dwell much on hardship

As evening descends we discover

Access to more clarity and depth

It’s only then that we come to study

And meditate at great length

It’s in autumn that we find

A flurry of new reasons to sing

Only if we can stay unhurried and

Alive to everything around us

Nowhere more certain of it than

In the center of our being

*  *  *  *  *

闲咏

白居易

步月怜清景    眠松爱绿阴

早年诗思苦    晚岁道情深

夜学禅多坐    秋牵兴暂吟

悠然两事外    无处更留心

*  *  *  *  *

Mid-October Surprise

Like a fighting battalion

Of the Royal Scots Guards

The dahlias and black eyed

Susans are standing watch

Over the back yard

Waiting for the first frost’s

Inevitable assault

It’s mid-October

And still this

Little garden spot 

Rich in morning sunlight

Is somehow managing to
Maintain itself in full bloom

(version 2)

Like a fighting battalion

Of the Royal Scots Guards

The dahlias and black eyed

Susans are keeping watch

Over the back yard

Waiting for the first frost’s

Inevitable advance

It’s mid-October

And still this

Little garden spot 

Rich in morning sunlight

Is somehow managing to

Maintain full bloom

Reoriented to attend

To the tenuous warmth of

The sun's more southerly slant 

By permission of the clouds at sunset

View looking north

I make this brief posting to my blog this evening with the direct permission of the clouds at sunset because a little after 6 pm as I was starting to meditate on the porch they disported themselves thusly and then consented to let me pen these few brief words and snap a few photos with my phone.

View looking west

Delayed on the Road from Szechuan (by Chang Yueh)

This is one of my favorite Tang poems.  It really hits the Trifecta in terms of concision, beauty and great depth of meaning.

Delayed on the Road from Szechuan
by Chang Yueh


A traveler's heart races
Both sun and moon
Coming and going
Always making
Such intricate plans

Yet the autumn wind
Doesn't wait for anyone
It always arrives first
At Loyang's outer walls

*  *  *  *  *

蜀道后期

客心争日月
来往预期程
秋风不相待
先至洛阳城

*  *  *  *  *

*  *  *  *  *

IAnd don't forget, the new issue of the Tang Spirit newsletter is now available.  You can receive your free copy by signing up here.  

Wednesday Morning Market Wrap Up

A dreambody
Abhors a mausoleum
No less than a vacuum
All that white marble
And nowhere to go
But at Wingspan today
Afraid I might get clipped
My dreambody soared aloft
Like Icarus in fact
Out over the Park
While Pete and his desk mates
Wrapped up the morning report
I sat at a conference table
And transcribed the Truth
Word for word exactly
What I had seen and heard
Floating high above
Manhattan island
Even though it was from
Another lifetime ago




*  *  *  *  *  *

Note of explanation.  I wrote this poem today when I went to meet my old friend PB for lunch. It was eerily familiar walking down the long white marble hallway in the lobby of the GM building, a mausoleum where I used to work for a few years myself.  PB is still perched on a trading desk, although with another multi-strat a few floors downstairs called Wingspan.   While he and the rest of the desk finished up their morning report, I cooled my heels in a conference room, reminisced about the olds days and wrote this poem.

Early October in the Mountains

A new issue of the Tang Spirit newsletter is now available.  You can receive your free copy by signing up here.  This issue we've assembled a fall tasting menu with a selection of 4 autumn poems from Wang Wei, Li Bai and Bai Juyi.  In the meantime, here's a little teaser -- my translation of another fine poem from Wang Wei.

A Mountain Residence in

Autumn’s Gathering Darkness

After a fresh rain has

Cleared the mountain air

The weather changes abruptly

With fall only lately arriving

The moon shines brightly

Between a stand of pines

A pure stream that tumbles

Down through the rocks

There’s a rustling in

The bamboo grove below

Like washerwomen at work

So the lotus is submerged

By a passing fishing boat

Now by design and intention

Spring’s fragrance is finally laid to rest

But descended of such nobility

We will manage to endure

山居秋暝

空山新雨後     天气晚来秋

明月松间照     清泉石上流

竹喧归浣女     莲动下渔舟

随意春芳歇     王孙自可留