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Tang Shi Introduction Table of content – 300 Tang poems

An anthology of 320 poems. Discover Chinese poetry in its golden age and some of the greatest Chinese poets. Tr. by Bynner (en).

I — Five-character-ancient-verse

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Tangshi I. 1.

Zhang Jiuling
Thoughts I

A lonely swan from the sea flies,
To alight on puddles it does not deign.
Nesting in the poplar of pearls
It spies and questions green birds twain:
"Don't you fear the threat of slings,
Perched on top of branches so high?
Nice clothes invite pointing fingers,
High climbers god's good will defy.
Bird-hunters will crave me in vain,
For I roam the limitless sky."

Bynner 1

a
Anon. – 05 – 2007/11/02
I am disturbed by the translation of the last line–where does "storm" come in? Does lau-yan-bo refer to Lake Dongting?
Richard – 55 – 2007/10/31

Tangshi I. 1. (2)

Zhang Jiuling
Orchid and Orange I

Tender orchid-leaves in spring
And cinnamon- blossoms bright in autumn
Are as self- contained as life is,
Which conforms them to the seasons.
Yet why will you think that a forest-hermit,
Allured by sweet winds and contented with beauty,
Would no more ask to-be transplanted
THan Would any other natural flower?

Bynner 2

oh and by the way. it's the year 2009 here, same in france?
Lu(cy) – 2008/11/01
桂花 (桂華) according to the 汉语大词典 is 木樨, Osmanthus fragrans from the family of Oleaceae (olive tree).
This sites dictionary and translation uses "cinnamonum cassia" which should actually be cinnamomum cassia 肉桂 (see. 21st century c.e. dictionary)
Lu(cy) – 2008/11/01
very interesting
Patricia – 61 – 2007/12/06
08/06/09
Mr_waiting
finished

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/ec/300tangpoems_vol_4_203.wav
Anon. – 03 – 2007/12/06
Wait... what, huh?!?!?!
Oh, this must be a comment board
Baobao – 68 – 2007/12/06
Un jour, dans l'atelier de mon maître Sha Zhonghu, nous avons calligraphié séparément sur deux grandes feuilles de papier de riz le poème de Meng Haoran (689-740) intitulé « Sommeil de printemps » :

Au printemps le sommeil dure au delà de l'aube
De tous les côtés parvient le chant des oiseaux
La nuit est à peine troublée par le murmure du vent et de la pluie
Qui sait combien de fleurs sont tombées cette nuit ?
Anon. – 32 – 2004/12/03
Pour entendre le poème, avec ou sans musique:
http://e-texts.org/cetexts/0051.htm
Guillemot – 36 – 2003/12/04
Ce poème a fait l'objet d'une discussion sur le forum fr.lettres.langue.chinoise, avec une proposition de traduction :
— Sous la pinède, interroger le disciple.
— De répondre: Le maître cueille des simples,
— parcourant seul le coeur de cette montagne.
— Un nuage sombre isole du monde.
gbog – 49 – 2002/12/02

Tangshi I. 1. (3)

Zhang Jiuling
Thoughts III

The hermit in his lone abode
Nurses his thoughts cleansed of care,
Them he projects to the wild goose
For it to his distant Sovereign to bear.
Who will be moved by the sincerity
Of my vain day-and-night prayer?
What comfort is for my loyalty
When fliers and sinkers can compare?

Bynner 3

Wuding means "un-fixed" or "shifting" and probably refers to the fact the sands in the desert shift, causing rivers to change course.
faux ennui – 09 – 2006/11/01
Thinking only of their vow that they would crush the Tartars- -
On the desert, clad in sable and silk, five thousand of them fell....
But arisen from their crumbling bones on the banks of the river at the border,
Dreams of them enter, like men alive, into rooms where their loves lie sleeping.

The above translation was embellished with some "poetic license".

Literally, the words meant:

Pledged to sweep the Xiong-nu away without fear for their own safety;
Five thousand clad in sable and brocade perished in the dust of Hu;
Pity the bones littering the banks of the Wu Ding River,
they were the very people dreamt of in ladies' bedchambers.
fer-de-lance – 09 – 2002/11/02

Tangshi I. 1. (4)

Zhang Jiuling
Orchid and Orange II

Here, south of the Yangzi, grows a red orangetree.
All winter long its leaves are green,
Not because of a warmer soil,
But because its' nature is used to the cold.
Though it might serve your honourable guests,
You leave it here, far below mountain and river.
Circumstance governs destiny.
Cause and effect are an infinite cycle.
You plant your peach-trees and your plums,
You forget the shade from this other tree.

Bynner 4

循环 circle 不可 shall not 寻 seek. A closed circle is not what we should seek for. Thats the opposite of the above translation, no?
Lu(cy) – 2008/11/01
If a true-hearted girl will love only her husband,
In a life as faithfully lived as theirs,

this couplet does not seem accurate to me. Isn't it rather that the chaste girl is buried with her husband and gives up her life to be like the above-mentioned?
Li Yan – 4 – 2008/12/06

Tangshi I. 1. (5)

Li Bai
Down Zhongnan Mountain to the Kind Pillow and Bowl of Husi

Down the blue mountain in the evening,
Moonlight was my homeward escort.
Looking back, I saw my path
Lie in levels of deep shadow....
I was passing the farm-house of a friend,
When his children called from a gate of thorn
And led me twining through jade bamboos
Where green vines caught and held my clothes.
And I was glad of a chance to rest
And glad of a chance to drink with my friend....
We sang to the tune of the wind in the pines;
And we finished our songs as the stars went down,
When, I being drunk and my friend more than happy,
Between us we forgot the world.

Bynner 5

Le poète descend du mont Tchong-nân1
et passe la nuit à boire avec un ami

Le soir étant venu, je descends de la montagne aux teintes bleuâtres ;
La lune de la montagne semble suivre et accompagner le promeneur,
Et s'il se retourne pour voir la distance qu'il a parcourue,
Son regard se perd dans les vapeurs de la nuit.

Nous arrivons en nous tenant par la main devant une rustique demeure,
Un jeune garçon nous ouvre la barrière formée de rameaux entrelacés ;
Nous passons par un étroit sentier dont les bambous touffus rendent l'entrée mystérieuse,
Et les grandes herbes verdoyantes frôlent gaiement la soie de nos vêtements.

Ma joie éclate de nous trouver ensemble dans cette retraite charmante,
Nous nous versons l'un à l'autre un vin d'une saveur exquise ;
Je chante, je chante la chanson du vent qui souffle à travers les pins,
Et ma verve ne s'épuise qu'à l'heure où s'efface la voie lactée.

J'ai perdu ma raison et cela excite encore votre gaieté, mon prince ;
Nous oublions tous deux, avec délices, les préoccupations de la vie réelle.

1. Montagne renommée pour ses sites pittoresques, à peu de distance et au sud-ouest de Si-ngnan-fou (autrefois Tchang-ngan), sur les bords du lac Meï-peï.

Voir d'autres traductions françaises.

Hervey 12

Tangshi I. 1. (6)

Li Bai
Drinking Alone with the Moon

From a pot of wine among the flowers
I drank alone. There was no one with me –
Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon
To bring me my shadow and make us three.
Alas, the moon was unable to drink
And my shadow tagged me vacantly;
But still for a while I had these friends
To cheer me through the end of spring....
I sang. The moon encouraged me.
I danced. My shadow tumbled after.
As long as I knew, we were boon companions.
And then I was drunk, and we lost one another.
...Shall goodwill ever be secure?
I watch the long road of the River of Stars.

Bynner 6

Tangshi I. 1. (7)

Li Bai
In Spring

Your grasses up north are as blue as jade,
Our mulberries here curve green-threaded branches;
And at last you think of returning home,
Now when my heart is almost broken....
O breeze of the spring, since I dare not know you,
Why part the silk curtains by my bed?

Bynner 7

Tangshi I. 1. (8)

Du Fu
A View of Taishan

What shall I say of the Great Peak? –
The ancient dukedoms are everywhere green,
Inspired and stirred by the breath of creation,
With the Twin Forces balancing day and night.
...I bare my breast toward opening clouds,
I strain my sight after birds flying home.
When shall I reach the top and hold
All mountains in a single glance?

Bynner 8

Tangshi I. 1. (9)

Du Fu
To my Retired Friend Wei

It is almost as hard for friends to meet
As for the morning and evening stars.
Tonight then is a rare event,
Joining, in the candlelight,
Two men who were young not long ago
But now are turning grey at the temples.
...To find that half our friends are dead
Shocks us, burns our hearts with grief.
We little guessed it would be twenty years
Before I could visit you again.
When I went away, you were still unmarried;
But now these boys and girls in a row
Are very kind to their father's old friend.
They ask me where I have been on my journey;
And then, when we have talked awhile,
They bring and show me wines and dishes,
Spring chives cut in the night-rain
And brown rice cooked freshly a special way.
...My host proclaims it a festival,
He urges me to drink ten cups –
But what ten cups could make me as drunk
As I always am with your love in my heart?
...Tomorrow the mountains will separate us;
After tomorrow-who can say?

Bynner 9

Offert à Pa,
lettré retiré du pays de Oey

Les hommes passent leur vie isolés les uns des autres ;
Ils sont comme des étoiles qui se meuvent sans se rencontrer 1.
Le soir de ce jour, quel heureux soir est-ce donc,
Pour que la même lampe nous éclaire tous deux !

Combien peu durent l'adolescence et la jeunesse !
Déjà les cheveux de nos tempes indiquent le déclin de notre âge ;
Déjà la moitié de ceux que nous avons connus ne sont plus que des esprits.
Je suis pénétré d'une telle émotion que je me sens brûlé jusqu'au fond de l'âme.

Aurais-je pensé qu'après vingt années,
Je me retrouverais dans votre maison ?
Quand je vous quittai vous n'étiez point marié encore,
Et voilà que des garçons et des filles ont tout à coup surgi autour de vous.

Ils accueillent affectueusement le vieil ami du chef de la famille,
On lui demande de quel pays il arrive ;
Et, tandis que les questions et les réponses se succèdent,
Jeunes garçons et jeunes filles s'empressent d'apporter du vin.

Malgré la nuit et malgré la pluie, ils vont cueillir les légumes printaniers ;
Au riz nouvellement cuit ils ajoutent du millet jaune.
L'hôte ne se lasse point de répéter combien il est joyeux de cette rencontre inespérée ;
Et bientôt l'on a bu dix grandes tasses, sans s'en apercevoir.

Dix grandes tasses ont été bues. Cependant ma raison n'est point égarée ;
Mais je suis touché profondément de retrouver si vive notre vieille amitié.
Demain, il faudra mettre encore entre nous des montagnes aux cimes nuageuses,
Et, pour nous deux, l'avenir redeviendra la mer sans horizon.

1. En vue de garantir l'impartialité des fonctionnaires, en empêchant qu'ils aient le temps de se créer des relations et des intérêts privés au siège de leur administration, les institutions de la Chine veulent qu'ils ne demeurent jamais plus de trois ans dans la même résidence. Jusqu'à ce qu'ils se retirent, ou qu'ils obtiennent quelque charge étrangère à la carrière administrative, les lettrés qui exercent des emplois publics mènent donc continuellement une existence errante, analogue à celle de nos officiers en garnison.

Voir d'autres traductions françaises.

Hervey 31

Tangshi I. 1. (10)

Du Fu
Alone in Her Beauty

Who is lovelier than she?
Yet she lives alone in an empty valley.
She tells me she came from a good family
Which is humbled now into the dust.
...When trouble arose in the Kuan district,
Her brothers and close kin were killed.
What use were their high offices,
Not even shielding their own lives? –
The world has but scorn for adversity;
Hope goes out, like the light of a candle.
Her husband, with a vagrant heart,
Seeks a new face like a new piece of jade;
And when morning-glories furl at night
And mandarin-ducks lie side by side,
All he can see is the smile of the new love,
While the old love weeps unheard.
The brook was pure in its mountain source,
But away from the mountain its waters darken.
...Waiting for her maid to come from selling pearls
For straw to cover the roof again,
She picks a few flowers, no longer for her hair,
And lets pine-needles fall through her fingers,
And, forgetting her thin silk sleeve and the cold,
She leans in the sunset by a tall bamboo.

Bynner 10

Une belle jeune femme1

Il est une femme qui, par sa beauté, l'emporte sur les générations passées, comme sur la génération présente ;
Elle vit dans la solitude, au fond d'une vallée déserte.
Elle se dit : Je suis fille d'une maison illustre ;
Tombée dans le malheur, c'est aux lieux sauvages que je demande un asile.

De grands désastres ont ensanglanté ma patrie,
Mes frères aînés et mes frères cadets sont morts égorgés ;
Ils étaient grands, ils étaient puissants parmi les hommes,
Et je n'ai pas même pu recueillir leur chair et leurs os pour les ensevelir.

Les sentiments du siècle sont de fuir et de haïr tout ce qui tombe,
Se croire assuré de quelque chose, c'est compter sur la flamme d'une lampe qu'on promène au vent.
Mon époux n'a ni force ni grandeur ; il est comme les gens du siècle ;
Que sa nouvelle épouse soit belle comme le jade, et cela lui suffit.

L'oiseau youèn2 n'abandonne jamais sa compagne :
La fleur du soir3 est toujours fidèle à la nuit.
Mon époux ! Il a devant les yeux le sourire de sa nouvelle femme ;
Est-ce qu'il entendrait les pleurs de celle qu'il ne voit pas !

L'eau de source se maintient pure, tant qu'elle demeure dans la montagne ;
Mais qu'elle s'épanche au-dehors, elle perd bientôt sa limpidité.
J'envoie mes femmes vendre au loin les perles de ma parure,
Et ne m'adresse qu'aux plantes grimpantes, pour réparer ma maison de roseaux.

Mes femmes m'apportent des fleurs, je refuse d'en orner ma chevelure ;
Ce que je prends à pleines mains ce sont des branches de cyprès4.
Le ciel est froid. Les manches de ma robe bleue sont légères.
Quand le soleil se couche5, je cherche un abri sous les grands bambous.

1. Cette pièce fut écrite à la suite des guerres civiles qui déchirèrent l'Empire, et des sanglantes révolutions de palais qui en furent la conséquence, durant les dernières années du règne de Ming-hoang-ti. Une jeune femme appartenant à quelque grande famille proscrite, que son mari abandonne lâchement après la chute des siens, et qui supporte avec fierté le malheur, tel est, le sujet. Mais bien que le poète ait eu sans doute en vue quelque trait particulier de l'histoire contemporaine, les commentateurs demeurent muets à cet égard.

2. Voir n. 2, p. 149.

3. La belle-de-nuit.

4. Le cyprès est en Chine, comme chez nous, l'arbre des cimetières, le symbole du deuil et de l'affliction.

5. Allusion à la chute de l'empereur, qui parut imminente.

Voir d'autres traductions françaises.

Hervey 32

a
Anon. – 5 – 2007/11/02

Tangshi I. 1. (11)

Du Fu
Seeing Li Bai in a Dream I

There are sobs when death is the cause of parting;
But life has its partings again and again.
...From the poisonous damps of the southern river
You had sent me not one sign from your exile –
Till you came to me last night in a dream,
Because I am always thinking of you.
I wondered if it were really you,
Venturing so long a journey.
You came to me through the green of a forest,
You disappeared by a shadowy fortress....
Yet out of the midmost mesh of your snare,
How could you lift your wings and use them?
...I woke, and the low moon's glimmer on a rafter
Seemed to be your face, still floating in the air.
...There were waters to cross, they were wild and tossing;
If you fell, there were dragons and rivermonsters.

Bynner 11

Le poète
voit en songe son ami Li-taï-pé1

Si c'est la mort qui nous sépare, je devrais rendre ma douleur muette ;
Si nous ne sommes séparés que par la distance, mon chagrin doit élever la voix.
Hélas ! le climat du Kiang-nan est le plus meurtrier des climats ;
Et mon ami est dans le Kiang-nan, et je suis sans nouvelles de lui.

Mon ami m'est apparu en songe,
Car nos esprits se cherchent constamment ;
Mais l'esprit qui m'a visité, était-ce l'esprit d'un homme vivant ?
La route de Kiang-nan est si longue que ce doute cruel ne peut, de longtemps, être éclairci.

L'ombre s'est avancée, au milieu d'un bois verdoyant ;
Puis je l'ai vu s'éloigner, et franchir de sombres barrières.
O mon ami ! m'écriai-je, vous qui étiez dans les liens,
Où donc avez-vous pris des ailes, pour voler aujourd'hui près de moi ?

Je m'éveillai. La lune inondait ma chambre de sa blanche lumière ;
Puis-je espérer qu'elle éclaire aussi celui dont je suis séparé !
Et, s'il a recouvré sa liberté, que de dangers le menacent encore !
Les barques sont si fragiles, les monstres marins si féroces et les flots si profonds !

1. On a pu voir dans la pièce précédente comment le lettré Tchao-fou éluda les ouvertures qui lui étaient faites par le chef rebelle Yong-ouang-lin. Li-taï-pé, plus coupable ou moins prudent, fut accusé d'avoir pris part à cette rébellion et jeté en prison. J'ai raconté plus haut dans sa biographie comment il en sortit. Ceci se passait la dernière année du règne de Sou-tsoung, c'est-à-dire en 762 de notre ère, alors que Thou-fou était déjà disgracié lui-même depuis longtemps.

Voir d'autres traductions françaises.

Hervey 42

Tangshi I. 1. (12)

Du Fu
Seeing Li Bai in a Dream II

This cloud, that has drifted all day through the sky,
May, like a wanderer, never come back....
Three nights now I have dreamed of you –
As tender, intimate and real as though I were awake.
And then, abruptly rising to go,
You told me the perils of adventure
By river and lake-the storms, the wrecks,
The fears that are borne on a little boat;
And, here in my doorway, you rubbed your white head
As if there were something puzzling you.
...Our capital teems with officious people,
While you are alone and helpless and poor.
Who says that the heavenly net never fails?
It has brought you ill fortune, old as you are.
...A thousand years' fame, ten thousand years' fame-
What good, when you are dead and gone.

Bynner 12

Tangshi I. 1. (13)

Wang Wei
At Parting

I dismount from my horse and I offer you wine,
And I ask you where you are going and why.
And you answer: "I am discontent
And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain.
So give me leave and ask me no questions.
White clouds pass there without end."

Bynner 13

En se séparant d'un voyageur

Je descendis de cheval ; je lui offris le vin de l'adieu,
Et je lui demandai quel était le but de son voyage.
Il me répondit : Je n'ai pas réussi dans les affaires du monde ;
Je m'en retourne aux monts Nan-chan pour y chercher le repos.

Vous n'aurez plus désormais à m'interroger sur de nouveaux voyages,
Car la nature est immuable, et les nuages blancs sont éternels 1.

1. Cette petite pièce, qui serait difficile à entendre sans commentaire, nous offre, à l'aide de celui qui l'accompagne, un trait de mœurs des plus caractéristiques.

« Le voyageur, dit le commentateur chinois, s'était rendu à la capitale avec l'espoir de réussir dans les concours littéraires, et de parvenir à un grade élevé. Son espoir ayant été déçu, il s'en retourne vers les montagnes, pour se livrer désormais aux seules jouissances de la contemplation. Ce qui dépend des hommes est sujet à mille changements ; mais ce qui dépend de la nature est immuable. Il est donc assuré que ce qu'il va chercher maintenant ne lui fera jamais défaut, et qu'il n'aura plus, conséquemment, de nouveaux voyages à entreprendre. »

Ce voyageur était Mong-kao-jèn, dont le nom figurera plus loin dans ce recueil.

Voir d'autres traductions françaises.

Hervey 62

Tangshi I. 1. (14)

Wang Wei
To Qiwu Qian Bound Home After Failing in an Examination

In a happy reign there should be no hermits;
The wise and able should consult together....
So you, a man of the eastern mountains,
Gave up your life of picking herbs
And came all the way to the Gate of Gold –
But you found your devotion unavailing.
...To spend the Day of No Fire on one of the southern rivers,
You have mended your spring clothes here in these northern cities.
I pour you the farewell wine as you set out from the capital –
Soon I shall be left behind here by my bosomfriend.
In your sail-boat of sweet cinnamon-wood
You will float again toward your own thatch door,
Led along by distant trees
To a sunset shining on a far-away town.
...What though your purpose happened to fail,
Doubt not that some of us can hear high music.

Bynner 14

Tangshi I. 1. (15)

Wang Wei
A Green Stream

I have sailed the River of Yellow Flowers,
Borne by the channel of a green stream,
Rounding ten thousand turns through the mountains
On a journey of less than thirty miles....
Rapids hum over heaped rocks;
But where light grows dim in the thick pines,
The surface of an inlet sways with nut-horns
And weeds are lush along the banks.
...Down in my heart I have always been as pure
As this limpid water is....
Oh, to remain on a broad flat rock
And to cast a fishing-line forever!

Bynner 15

I am disturbed by the translation of the last line–where does "storm" come in? Does lau-yan-bo refer to Lake Dongting?
Richard – 5 – 2007/10/31

Tangshi I. 1. (16)

Wang Wei
A Farm-house on the Wei River

In the slant of the sun on the country-side,
Cattle and sheep trail home along the lane;
And a rugged old man in a thatch door
Leans on a staff and thinks of his son, the herdboy.
There are whirring pheasants? full wheat-ears,
Silk-worms asleep, pared mulberry-leaves.
And the farmers, returning with hoes on their shoulders,
Hail one another familiarly.
...No wonder I long for the simple life
And am sighing the old song, Oh, to go Back Again!

Bynner 16

Tangshi I. 1. (17)

Wang Wei
The Beautiful Xi Shi

Since beauty is honoured all over the Empire,
How could Xi Shi remain humbly at home? –
Washing clothes at dawn by a southern lake –
And that evening a great lady in a palace of the north:
Lowly one day, no different from the others,
The next day exalted, everyone praising her.
No more would her own hands powder her face
Or arrange on her shoulders a silken robe.
And the more the King loved her, the lovelier she looked,
Blinding him away from wisdom.
...Girls who had once washed silk beside her
Were kept at a distance from her chariot.
And none of the girls in her neighbours' houses
By pursing their brows could copy her beauty.

Bynner 17

Tangshi I. 1. (18)

Meng Haoran
On Climbing Orchid Mountain in the Autumn to Zhang

On a northern peak among white clouds
You have found your hermitage of peace;
And now, as I climb this mountain to see you,
High with the wildgeese flies my heart.
The quiet dusk might seem a little sad
If this autumn weather were not so brisk and clear;
I look down at the river bank, with homeward-bound villagers
Resting on the sand till the ferry returns;
There are trees at the horizon like a row of grasses
And against the river's rim an island like the moon
I hope that you will come and meet me, bringing a basket of wine –
And we'll celebrate together the Mountain Holiday.

Bynner 18

Tangshi I. 1. (19)

Meng Haoran
In Summer at the South Pavilion Thinking of Xing

The mountain-light suddenly fails in the west,
In the east from the lake the slow moon rises.
I loosen my hair to enjoy the evening coolness
And open my window and lie down in peace.
The wind brings me odours of lotuses,
And bamboo-leaves drip with a music of dew....
I would take up my lute and I would play,
But, alas, who here would understand?
And so I think of you, old friend,
O troubler of my midnight dreams !

Bynner 19

Tangshi I. 1. (20)

Meng Haoran
At the Mountain-lodge of the Buddhist Priest Ye Waiting in Vain for my Friend Ding

Now that the sun has set beyond the western range,
Valley after valley is shadowy and dim....
And now through pine-trees come the moon and the chill of evening,
And my ears feel pure with the sound of wind and water
Nearly all the woodsmen have reached home,
Birds have settled on their perches in the quiet mist....
And still – because you promised – I am waiting for you, waiting,
Playing lute under a wayside vine.

Bynner 20

Le poète attend son ami Ting-kong
dans une grotte du mont Nié-chy

Le soleil a franchi pour se coucher la chaîne de ces hautes montagnes,
Et bientôt toutes les vallées se sont perdues dans les ombres du soir.
La lune surgit du milieu des pins, amenant la fraîcheur avec elle,
Le vent qui souffle et les ruisseaux qui coulent remplissent mon oreille de sons purs.

Le bûcheron regagne son gîte pour réparer ses forces épuisées ;
L'oiseau a choisi sa branche, il perche déjà dans l'immobilité du repos.
Un ami m'avait promis de venir en ces lieux jouir avec moi d'une nuit si belle ;
Je prends mon luth et, solitaire, je vais l'attendre dans les sentiers herbeux.

Voir d'autres traductions françaises.

Hervey 66

08/06/09
Mr_waiting
finished

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/ec/300tangpoems_vol_4_203.wav
Anon. – 3 – 2007/12/06

Tangshi I. 1. (21)

Wang Changling
With my Brother at the South Study Thinking in the Moonlight of Vice-prefect Cui in Shanyin

Lying on a high seat in the south study,
We have lifted the curtain-and we see the rising moon
Brighten with pure light the water and the grove
And flow like a wave on our window and our door.
It will move through the cycle, full moon and then crescent again,
Calmly, beyond our wisdom, altering new to old.
...Our chosen one, our friend, is now by a limpid river –
Singing, perhaps, a plaintive eastern song.
He is far, far away from us, three hundred miles away.
And yet a breath of orchids comes along the wind.

Bynner 21

Tangshi I. 1. (22)

Qiu Wei
After Missing the Recluse on the Western Mountain

To your hermitage here on the top of the mountain
I have climbed, without stopping, these ten miles.
I have knocked at your door, and no one answered;
I have peeped into your room, at your seat beside the table.
Perhaps you are out riding in your canopied chair,
Or fishing, more likely, in some autumn pool.
Sorry though I am to be missing you,
You have become my meditation –
The beauty of your grasses, fresh with rain,
And close beside your window the music of your pines.
I take into my being all that I see and hear,
Soothing my senses, quieting my heart;
And though there be neither host nor guest,
Have I not reasoned a visit complete?
...After enough, I have gone down the mountain.
Why should I wait for you any longer?

Bynner 22

Tangshi I. 1. (23)

Qiwu Qian
A Boat in Spring on Ruoya Lake

Thoughtful elation has no end:
Onward I bear it to whatever come.
And my boat and I, before the evening breeze
Passing flowers, entering the lake,
Turn at nightfall toward the western valley,
Where I watch the south star over the mountain
And a mist that rises, hovering soft,
And the low moon slanting through the trees;
And I choose to put away from me every worldly matter
And only to be an old man with a fishing-pole.

Bynner 23

Un jour, dans l'atelier de mon maître Sha Zhonghu, nous avons calligraphié séparément sur deux grandes feuilles de papier de riz le poème de Meng Haoran (689-740) intitulé « Sommeil de printemps » :

Au printemps le sommeil dure au delà de l'aube
De tous les côtés parvient le chant des oiseaux
La nuit est à peine troublée par le murmure du vent et de la pluie
Qui sait combien de fleurs sont tombées cette nuit ?
Anon. – 2 – 2004/12/03
Pour entendre le poème, avec ou sans musique:
http://e-texts.org/cetexts/0051.htm
Guillemot – 6 – 2003/12/04

Tangshi I. 1. (24)

Chang Jian
At Wang Changlin' S Retreat

Here, beside a clear deep lake,
You live accompanied by clouds;
Or soft through the pine the moon arrives
To be your own pure-hearted friend.
You rest under thatch in the shadow of your flowers,
Your dewy herbs flourish in their bed of moss.
Let me leave the world. Let me alight, like you,
On your western mountain with phoenixes and cranes.

Bynner 24

Ce poème a fait l'objet d'une discussion sur le forum fr.lettres.langue.chinoise, avec une proposition de traduction :
— Sous la pinède, interroger le disciple.
— De répondre: Le maître cueille des simples,
— parcourant seul le coeur de cette montagne.
— Un nuage sombre isole du monde.
gbog – 9 – 2002/12/02

Tangshi I. 1. (25)

Cen Can
Ascending the Pagoda at the Temple of Kind Favour with Gao Shi and Xue Ju

The pagoda, rising abruptly from earth,
Reaches to the very Palace of Heaven....
Climbing, we seem to have left the world behind us,
With the steps we look down on hung from space.
It overtops a holy land
And can only have been built by toil of the spirit.
Its four sides darken the bright sun,
Its seven stories cut the grey clouds;
Birds fly down beyond our sight,
And the rapid wind below our hearing;
Mountain-ranges, toward the east,
Appear to be curving and flowing like rivers;
Far green locust-trees line broad roads
Toward clustered palaces and mansions;
Colours of autumn, out of the west,
Enter advancing through the city;
And northward there lie, in five graveyards,
Calm forever under dewy green grass,
Those who know life's final meaning
Which all humankind must learn.
...Henceforth I put my official hat aside.
To find the Eternal Way is the only happiness.

Bynner 25

Tangshi I. 1. (26)

Yuan Jie
To the Tax-collectors After the Bandits Retreat

I still remember those days of peace –
Twenty years among mountains and forests,
The pure stream running past my yard,
The caves and valleys at my door.
Taxes were light and regular then,
And I could sleep soundly and late in the morning-
Till suddenly came a sorry change.
...For years now I have been serving in the army.
When I began here as an official,
The mountain bandits were rising again;
But the town was so small it was spared by the thieves,
And the people so poor and so pitiable
That all other districts were looted
And this one this time let alone.
...Do you imperial commissioners
Mean to be less kind than bandits?
The people you force to pay the poll
Are like creatures frying over a fire.
And how can you sacrifice human lives,
Just to be known as able collectors? –
...Oh, let me fling down my official seal,
Let me be a lone fisherman in a small boat
And support my family on fish and wheat
And content my old age with rivers and lakes!

Bynner 26

very interesting
Patricia – 1 – 2007/12/06
Wait... what, huh?!?!?!
Oh, this must be a comment board
Baobao – 8 – 2007/12/06

Tangshi I. 1. (27)

Wei Yingwu
Entertaining Literary Men in my Official Residence on a Rainy Day

Outside are insignia, shown in state;
But here are sweet incense-clouds, quietly ours.
Wind and rain, coming in from sea,
Have cooled this pavilion above the lake
And driven the feverish heat away
From where my eminent guests are gathered.
...Ashamed though I am of my high position
While people lead unhappy lives,
Let us reasonably banish care
And just be friends, enjoying nature.
Though we have to go without fish and meat,
There are fruits and vegetables aplenty.
...We bow, we take our cups of wine,
We give our attention to beautiful poems.
When the mind is exalted, the body is lightened
And feels as if it could float in the wind.
...Suzhou is famed as a centre of letters;
And all you writers, coming here,
Prove that the name of a great land
Is made by better things than wealth.

Bynner 27

Tangshi I. 1. (28)

Wei Yingwu
Setting Sail on the Yangzi to Secretary Yuan

Wistful, away from my friends and kin,
Through mist and fog I float and float
With the sail that bears me toward Loyang.
In Yangzhou trees linger bell-notes of evening,
Marking the day and the place of our parting....
When shall we meet again and where?
...Destiny is a boat on the waves,
Borne to and fro, beyond our will.

Bynner 28

Tangshi I. 1. (29)

Wei Yingwu
A Poem to a Taoist Hermit Chuanjiao Mountain

My office has grown cold today;
And I suddenly think of my mountain friend
Gathering firewood down in the valley
Or boiling white stones for potatoes in his hut....
I wish I might take him a cup of wine
To cheer him through the evening storm;
But in fallen leaves that have heaped the bare slopes,
How should I ever find his footprints!

Bynner 29

Tangshi I. 1. (30)

Wei Yingwu
On Meeting my Friend Feng Zhu in the Capital

Out of the east you visit me,
With the rain of Baling still on your clothes,
I ask you what you have come here for;
You say: "To buy an ax for cutting wood in the mountains"
...Hidden deep in a haze of blossom,
Swallow fledglings chirp at ease
As they did when we parted, a year ago....
How grey our temples have grown since them!

Bynner 30

Wuding means "un-fixed" or "shifting" and probably refers to the fact the sands in the desert shift, causing rivers to change course.
faux ennui – 9 – 2006/11/01
Thinking only of their vow that they would crush the Tartars- -
On the desert, clad in sable and silk, five thousand of them fell....
But arisen from their crumbling bones on the banks of the river at the border,
Dreams of them enter, like men alive, into rooms where their loves lie sleeping.

The above translation was embellished with some "poetic license".

Literally, the words meant:

Pledged to sweep the Xiong-nu away without fear for their own safety;
Five thousand clad in sable and brocade perished in the dust of Hu;
Pity the bones littering the banks of the Wu Ding River,
they were the very people dreamt of in ladies' bedchambers.
fer-de-lance – 9 – 2002/11/02

Tangshi I. 1. (31)

Wei Yingwu
Mooring at Twilight in Yuyi District

Furling my sail near the town of Huai,
I find for harbour a little cove
Where a sudden breeze whips up the waves.
The sun is growing dim now and sinks in the dusk.
People are coming home. The bright mountain-peak darkens.
Wildgeese fly down to an island of white weeds.
...At midnight I think of a northern city-gate,
And I hear a bell tolling between me and sleep.

Bynner 31

Tangshi I. 1. (32)

Wei Yingwu
East of the Town

From office confinement all year long,
I have come out of town to be free this morning
Where willows harmonize the wind
And green hills lighten the cares of the world.
I lean by a tree and rest myself
Or wander up and down a stream.
...Mists have wet the fragrant meadows;
A spring dove calls from some hidden place.
...With quiet surroundings, the mind is at peace,
But beset with affairs, it grows restless again....
Here I shall finally build me a cabin,
As Tao Qian built one long ago.

Bynner 32

Tangshi I. 1. (33)

Wei Yingwu
To my Daughter on Her Marriage Into the Yang Family

My heart has been heavy all day long
Because you have so far to go.
The marriage of a girl, away from her parents,
Is the launching of a little boat on a great river.
...You were very young when your mother died,
Which made me the more tender of you.
Your elder sister has looked out for you,
And now you are both crying and cannot part.
This makes my grief the harder to bear;
Yet it is right that you should go.
...Having had from childhood no mother to guide you,
How will you honour your mother-in-law?
It's an excellent family; they will be kind to you,
They will forgive you your mistakes –
Although ours has been so pure and poor
That you can take them no great dowry.
Be gentle and respectful, as a woman should be,
Careful of word and look, observant of good example.
...After this morning we separate,
There's no knowing for how long....
I always try to hide my feelings –
They are suddenly too much for me,
When I turn and see my younger daughter
With the tears running down her cheek.

Bynner 33

Tangshi I. 1. (34)

Liu Zongyuan
Reading Buddhist Classics with Zhao at his Temple in the Early Morning

I clean my teeth in water drawn from a cold well;
And while I brush my clothes, I purify my mind;
Then, slowly turning pages in the Tree-Leaf Book,
I recite, along the path to the eastern shelter.
...The world has forgotten the true fountain of this teaching
And people enslave themselves to miracles and fables.
Under the given words I want the essential meaning,
I look for the simplest way to sow and reap my nature.
Here in the quiet of the priest's templecourtyard,
Mosses add their climbing colour to the thick bamboo;
And now comes the sun, out of mist and fog,
And pines that seem to be new-bathed;
And everything is gone from me, speech goes, and reading,
Leaving the single unison.

Bynner 34

Tangshi I. 1. (35)

Liu Zongyuan
Dwelling By a Stream

I had so long been troubled by official hat and robe
That I am glad to be an exile here in this wild southland.
I am a neighbour now of planters and reapers.
I am a guest of the mountains and woods.
I plough in the morning, turning dewy grasses,
And at evening tie my fisher-boat, breaking the quiet stream.
Back and forth I go, scarcely meeting anyone,
And sing a long poem and gaze at the blue sky.

Bynner 35

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Alias Tang Shi San Bai Shou, Three Hundred Poems of the Tang Dynasty, Poésie des Thang.

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