The Lute Player
The Lute Player
Liu Changqing (709-785)
As water flows, your lute of seven strings . . .
I hear the wind between the winter pines.
You pull an ancient tune that, though I love,
The players now can hardly play the lines.
| Chinese 彈琴 劉長卿 泠泠七絃上 靜聽松風寒 古調雖自愛 今人多不彈 | Pronunciation Dàn Qín |
Seeing Off My Elder Brother
Seeing Off My Elder Brother
Lu Zhaolin (634-684/686)You’ll travel home through frontier mountain roads
To see the blooms and willows of Chang’än;
But now it’s time we part our hands goodbye,
To gaze in silent sorrow, and journey on.
| Chinese 送二兄人蜀 盧照鄰 關山客子路 花柳帝王城 此中一分手 柑顧憐無聲 | Pronunciation |
At Yi River, Seeing Off a Friend
In ancient times a troubled king did send,
Along this very spot, a hero bold—
And though those men have drowned in time’s lost flood,
These waters now are just as dark and cold.
| Chinese 於易水送人 駱賓王 此地別燕丹 壯士發衝冠 昔時人已沒 今日水猶寒 | Pronunciation Yú Yì Shuǐ Sòng Rén Luò Bīn wáng Cǐ dì bié yān dān Zhuàng shì fà chōng guān |
Midnight Song 2
Midnight Song 2
Xiao Yan, Emperor Wu of Liang (464-549)
The morning sunshine strokes the window silk
As wind and light together play with strings;
She smiles with subtle ease and lifts her eyes
As when a butterfly brings up its wings.
Cold Meal Night
Cold Meal Night
Cui Daorong (~895)
In Manchu land the pears now blossom white
As moonlight broken by the blowing wind.
Here all the people fast for Cold Meal Night;
I gaze at home alone—cast off and thin.
A Nightly Song
A Nightly Song
Shen Yue (441-513)
I leave the door ajar for you to come
But every night we part before it’s bright;
The moonlight shines across my pillowcase
To hide in bed between the lantern’s light.
Fisherman’s Gully
Fisherman’s Gully
Huangfu Ran (716-769)
I’d like for us to chase the tides beyond,
But time is up for us as fishing men;
Now face-to-face, aware we will not meet—
The end has come, we must begin again.
A Play for Cold Meal Day
A Play for Cold Meal Day
Lu Yanrang (~ 900)On Twelfth Street here it’s like a packed bazaar,
A world of dust that’s choked and cannot clear;
We work like ox until our sweat pours out,
No time to sit and watch the flowers near.
| Chinese 寒食日戲 盧延讓 十二街如市 紅塵咽不開 灑蹄驄馬汗 沒處看花來 | Pronunciation Hán Shí Rì Xì |
Cicadas
Cicadas
Yu Shinan (558-638)He dangles down to drink the clear light dew,
Exuding sound through the green leaf brush;
And flowing far and wide, his voice flies on
Without the need of wind from autumn’s rush.
| Chinese 蟬 虞世南 垂緌飲清露 流響出疏桐 居高聲自遠 非是藉秋風 | Pronunciation Chán |
Bamboo Retreat
Bamboo Retreat
Wang Wei (692-761)Alone I sit within the bamboo grove
And lift my lute to strum and hum along;
Within this depth of woods a man forgets —
The bright moon comes to mix its light with song.
| Chinese 竹裏館 王維 獨坐幽篁裏 彈琴復長嘯 深林人不知 明月來相照 | Pronunciation Zhú Lǐ Guǎn Wáng Wéi |
