詠史 高適

詠史       高適 (700-765)

尚有綈袍贈，應憐范叔寒。    

不知天下士，猶作布衣看。    

On a Historical Scenario        Gao Shi (700-765)

Out of pity, Xu Jia gave the quivery looking Fan Sui a silk gown,

Being ignorant that he is now world renowned,
Treating this statesman of Qi recently crowned
As a shabbily dressed nobody low-down.

長干行 崔顥

長干行     崔顥 (704-754)

君家何處住，妾住在橫塘。    

停船暫借問，或恐是同鄉。    

A Trip to Zhang Gan      Cui Hao (704-754)

Whence are you, sire?

From Heng Tang My homeland I fare,
I stop my boat to enquire,
From the same homeland we have fared I venture to gather.

 

秋興八首(其八) 杜甫

秋興八首(其八)       杜甫  (712-770)

昆吾御宿自逶迤，紫閣峰陰入渼陂。
香稻啄餘鸚鵡粒，碧梧棲老鳳凰枝。
佳人拾翠春相問，仙侶同舟晚更移。
彩筆昔曾干氣象，白頭吟望苦低垂。

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 8)       

Du Fu (712-770)

The way to the Royal Gardens and the Forbidden Lodgings River tortuously meanders,

The image of the tall Purple Tower Peak prints gloomily on the Lake Mei waters,
On fragrant grains parrots were usually foddered,
On verdurous ancient wutong trees phoenixes laired,
In spring my fair pretty travel companion picks on the way whatever she sees as spring’s splendour,
We then travel happily in the same boat in the vesper,
My animating brush has portrayed thousands and thousands of delightful moments when the state prospers,
Now drifting and forlorn at end of world I could only mull over a head of hoar hair.

秋興八首 (其七) 杜甫

秋興八首 (其七)      杜甫  (712-770)

昆明池水漢時功，武帝旌旗在眼中。  

織女機絲虛夜月，石鯨鱗甲動秋風。   
波飄菰米沉雲黑，露冷蓮房墜粉紅。   
關塞極天惟鳥道，江湖滿地一漁翁。  

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 7)       

Du Fu (712-770)

The Kunming Pool where the naval army of Emperor Wu of Han was drilled,

The image of the Emperor’s imperial standard still awesomely thrills,
The sculpture of the Girl Weaver by the Pool had her days vainly spilled,
The stone whale with animated scales in the autumnal gale twirl,
Dark clouds in the sky sink while scattered wild rice stems on the waves mill,
Amidst the chilly dews lotus seeds have their pods filled while pink lotus flowers fall and wilt,
Free travelling in the tumultuous borders is hampered leaving only the tortuous trails to choose at will,
In such a big world there seems nowhere for this drifting forlorn gaffer on a boat to have a place to fill.

 

 

秋興八首(其六) 杜甫

 

秋興八首(其六)       杜甫 (712-770)

瞿塘峽口曲江頭，萬里風煙接素秋。
花萼夾城通御氣，芙蓉小苑入邊愁。
珠簾繡柱圍黃鵠，錦纜牙檣起白鷗。
回首可憐歌舞地，秦中自古帝王州。

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 6)       
Du Fu (712-770)

On the entrance of Qutang Gorge and Qujiang’s approach,

Amidst ten thousand miles of tumultuous unrest autumn finally befalls,
Through the Calyx Tower and the adjoining city wall the Emperor could easily get around to savour the delights of the places one and all,
The Lotus Garden brought great pleasure to the Supreme Lord as well as disasters through the borders with endless troubles,
The exquisite imperial palaces were all shrouded in pearl portieres and sumptuously spankled,
Royal ships were all brocade and ivory tinselled,
Recalling all these places where spree and gaieties in which the court reveled,
Chang’an has been from of old the place where emperors had their kingdoms founded and unfurled.

 

 

 

 

秋興八首(其五) 杜甫

秋興八首(其五)       杜甫(712-770)

蓬萊宮闕對南山，承露金莖霄漢間。
西望瑤池降王母，東來紫氣滿函關。
雲移雉尾開宮扇，日繞龍鱗識聖顏。
一臥滄江驚歲晚，幾回青瑣照朝班。

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 5)       

Du Fu (712-770)

Beyond Mt Zhongnan stand the palaces of Chang’an as majestically as the celestial palaces in the fairyland of Penglai,

The golden lotus leaves holding the dews of autumn rise up amidst the skies,
Espying west at the Jasper Pool one expects to see the goddess Siwang descending on earth in mortal disguise,
Purple majestic fumes from the east have the Han Gu Pass fully subsided,
In morning leeves pheasant tail fans shrouding the emperor like clouds closing up in whiles,
In broad daylight I’ve had the fortune to have a glimpse of His Majesty’s profile,
Stranded at River Cang I am aghast to find how time flies,
As humble as I am, I’ve been amid those at the Green Florid Palace in the emperor’s morning leeve file.

秋興八首(其四) 杜甫

秋興八首(其四)       杜甫  (712-770)

聞道長安似弈棋，百年世事不勝悲。
王侯第宅皆新主，文武衣冠異昔時。
直北關山金鼓振，征西車馬羽書馳。
魚龍寂寞秋江冷，故國平居有所思。

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 4)       

Du Fu (712-770)

People say situations in Chang’an are like a chess game still in play,

A hundred years of tumultuous unrest plunges it into the abyss of endless bales,
Palatial houses are now all owned by new people who have recently been highly hailed,
Established laws and codes have all been erased,
By powerful and scheming eunuchs all righteous and capable people are driven away,
When the Uyghurs invaded, warring drums and bugles from the borders pervaded,
West-bound military horses passing warring information fleeted and raced,
Now the country is broken with mountains and rivers sank destitutely desolate,
Decrepit and ailing, these humiliations keep gnawing me excruciated all these days.

 

 

 

秋興八首 (其三) 杜甫

秋興八首 (其三)       杜甫(712-770)

千家山郭靜朝暉，日日江樓坐翠微。

信宿漁人還泛泛，清秋燕子故飛飛。
匡衡抗疏功名薄，劉向傳經心事違。
同學少年多不賤，五陵裘馬自輕肥。

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No.3)     

Du Fu (712-770)

Hundreds of households by the mountain bask quietly in the morning sunlight,

Every day I sit by the river to savour the verdurous vista and scenic delights,
Fishing boats are still floating mid-stream with their masters there having spent the night,
In the autumnal cool swallows are busily taking their seasonal flights,
Kuang Heng of Han, with his memorial admonishing the emperor, won him official post of the top flight,
While mine has only led to my exilian plight,
Liu Xiang’s resolve to pass down his knowledge of the classics made influence with lasting might,,
But mine, under the chaotic situation, is blighted,
Fellow scholars of my early days now all exult in prominent heights,
Riding coursers and clad in exquisite furs, avoid me outright.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

秋興八首(其二) 杜甫

秋興八首(其二)       杜甫  (712-770)

夔府孤城落日斜，每依北斗望京華。
聽猿實下三聲淚，奉使虛隨八月槎。
畫省香爐違伏枕，山樓粉堞隱悲笳。
請看石上藤蘿月，已映洲前蘆荻花。

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 2)       

Du Fu (712-770)

The setting sun flushes on the solitary Kuizhou City wall,

Every night I look to the Polar Star pointing to the direction of Chang’an the Capital,
The ape wails from the river gorges stir my tears to fall,
Riding a raft back to my homeland in the eighth month proved a fond dream foiled,
Burning incense in the night I spent at the court preparing memorial for the next morning I recall,
The mournful Tartar reed pipes from the city wall in the dusk come with unsettling sores,
The moonlight on the creepers over the rocks that befalls,
Has now turned onto the silver grasses on the ait by the river shore.

 

 

 

秋興八首(其一) 杜甫

秋興八首(其一)       杜甫  (712-770)

玉露凋傷楓樹林，巫山巫峽氣蕭森。  

江間波浪兼天湧，塞上風雲接地陰。   
叢菊兩開他日淚，孤舟一繫故園心。
寒衣處處催刀尺，白帝城高急暮砧。  

An Octet of Autumnal Melancholy (Poem No. 1)       

Du Fu (712-770)

Bleakness reigns over the Mt. Wu and its vales,

Maple woods amidst autumnal dews shrivel,
Hurling up to the heavens are the rivers’ raging billows,
Gloomy clouds and roaring gales from the borders sweep the earth with frigid chills,
Witnessing the chrysanthemums blow again while I’m still stranded makes my tears flow,
My solitary boat is tied to my homeland with a rope borne from my soul,
For the winter clothes scissors and rulers busily hustle and bustle,
On the tall Baidi City wall laundry clamours come rumbling as dusk unfolds

 

 

 

 

遊月殿 程顥

遊月殿      程顥 (1032 - 1085)

月坡堤上四徘徊，北有中天百尺臺。  

萬物已隨秋氣改，一樽聊為晚涼開。   
水心雲影閒相照，林下泉聲靜自來。
世事無端何足計，但逢佳節約重陪。  

A Trip to the Moon Palace      Cheng Hao (1032 - 1085)

I roam on the embankment teeming with moonlight,

To the north a thousand-foot tower to the mid sky has taken flight,
With the arrival of autumn everything has swung with season’s changing lights,
I open a bottle of wine specially for the pleasant coolness of the night,
On the pond the clouds leisurely idle in their own right,
In the woods spring waters murmur through the serene site,
World affairs are so intriguingly volatile that we should always humour with insouscient delight,
All we could do is to revel the festivities with friends to the full amid the seasonal sights.

 

 

 

中秋 季朴

中秋        季朴 (唐)

皓魄當空寶鏡升，雲間仙籟寂無聲。  

平分秋色一輪滿，長伴雲衢千里明。   
狡兔空從弦外落，妖蟆休向眼前生。   
靈槎擬約同攜手，更待銀河澈底清。

The Mid -Autumn Festival       Ji Pu (Tang Poet)

A glowing mirror in the heavens grows,

Everything in the boundless voidness and celestial are seized transquil,
There comes in the heavens sharing the autumnal tints in equals a fully round wheel,
Illuminating the heavenly road through a thousand miles,
The witty heavenly hare could only alight beyond the fully drawn bow,
Swiftly gone into hiding is the chimera toad ready to poach,
How much I’d like to invite a boon partner to ride in a heavenly boat,
On a hyaline galaxy together we sail.

 

題竹林寺 朱放

題竹林寺      朱放 (唐)

歲月人間促， 煙霞此地多。   

殷勤竹林寺， 更得幾回過。   

Written on the Bamboo Woods Temple       Zhu Fang ( Tang Poet)

Time in our life fleets,

Brume and haze here shrouding replete,
This is the place I repair in repeat,
But how many more times myself to this place can I treat?

 

答李儋 韋應物

答李儋     韋應物 (737-792)

去年花裡逢君別，今日花開又一年。  

世事茫茫難自料，春愁黯黯獨成眠。  
身多疾病思田里，邑有流亡愧俸錢。  
聞道欲來相問訊，西樓望月幾回圓。  

In Reply to Li Dan     Wei Yingwu (737-792)

Last year we bid each other farewell amid blooming flowers,

It’s been a year now today as the flowers are again flushing with glamour,
World affairs are so intricately intricate that one can never augur,
Amidst gloomily gloomy spring melancholy in solitude I respire,
With an ailing body back to a rustic life I always want to retire,
I am often ashamed of my emoluments when I see refugees in my prefecture everywhere,
You’d like to look in on me I hear,
I’ve been looking forward to your visit on the west chamber for years,

旅懷 崔塗(唐)

旅懷        崔塗(唐)

水流花謝兩無情，送盡東風過楚城。  

蝴蝶夢中家萬里，杜鵑枝上月三更。  
故園書動經年絕，華髮春催兩鬢生。  
自是不歸歸便得，五湖煙景有誰爭。  

Sentiments Amidst My Sojourn   Cui Tu (Tang poet)

Apathetic are both the falling flowers and the running waters,
The east winds have already sent them the city walls over,
Like Master Zhuang into a butterfly I reincarnate but with my homeland thousands of miles away I can’t possibly fly over thither,
The moon is already mid-sky when the cuckoos whimper,
I’ve not received letters from home all these years,
Fleeting time has turned my temples and hair hoar,
I have only myself to convince if I really want to retire,
Whence for the mizzly vista on the Five Lakes who’d be my vier.