送魏萬之京 李頎

送魏萬之京     李頎 (690-751)
朝聞游子唱驪歌，昨夜微霜初度河。
鴻雁不堪愁裏聽，雲山況是客中過。
關城曙色催寒近，御苑砧聲向晚多。
莫是長安行樂處，空令歲月易蹉跎。

Seeing Wei Wan Off to the Capital      Li Qi (690-751)

At dawn wayfarers sing their song of adieu,

At dusk faint frost has first made its way across the River Yellow,
Listen not to woeful cries of  the wild geese when you are fretted by dismals,
The desolate clouds and mountains you’ll come across as a sojourner who travels,
The gloomy twilight over Hangu Gate Pass ushering in the chills,
Laundry hustle and bustle within the imperial gardens become clamorous towards nightfall,
Don’t take Chang’an to be a place for fun and gaieties pleasurable,
Fritter away your days in ways undesirable.

風雨 李商隱

風雨    李商隱 (813-858)
凄涼寶劍篇，羈泊欲窮年。
黃葉仍風雨，青樓自管弦。
新知遭薄俗，舊好隔良緣。
心斷新豐酒，銷愁又幾千。

Storms        Li Shangyin (813-858)

The famous article the Treasured Sword thrills me with sorrows,

Wretchedly gadding on the tramp all these years I’ve straggled,
Like a yellow leaf flittering in the stormy gale,
People revel with abandon in dancing and singing sprees and gaieties in brothels,
New acquaintances will soon be forgotten in an acrid and apathetic world,
Even old friends will be alienated if not stay closely cordial,
I don’t expect the Xin Feng wine to change my fortune’s wheel,
I’d rather spend a few thousand coins to drink off my dismals.

宿桐廬江寄廣陵舊遊 孟浩然

宿桐廬江寄廣陵舊遊    孟浩然 (689-740)

山暝聽猿愁，滄江急夜流。
風鳴兩岸葉，月照一孤舟。
建德非吾土，維揚憶舊遊。
還將兩行淚，遙寄海西頭。

To My Old Pals in Guangling While Putting Up

at the Donglu River            Meng Haoran (689-740)

At dusk amidst the mountains I listen to the ape wails,

Rapidly the river raves as night falls,
Leaves on the banks rattle amidst the gale,
The moon shines on my solitary boat,
Jiande is not my homeland pale,
Weiyang reminds me of my old pals,
Totally unsettled by my doles,
Remotely my running tears I could only post,
To you in Guangling at the sea’s end of the westmost.

秋日赴闕題潼關驛樓 許渾

秋日赴闕題潼關驛樓    許渾  (788-860)

紅葉晚蕭蕭，長亭酒一瓢。
殘雲歸太華，疏雨過中條。
樹色隨關迥，河聲入海遙。
帝鄉明日到，猶自夢漁樵。

Written at the Station Guest House at Tong Guan on

My Way to the Capital on an Autumn Day        
Xu Hun (788-860)

The red tree leaves rattle in the autumnal gale at nightfall,

For a gourd of wine at Long Pavilion I lull,
To Mt. Tai Hua the broken clouds float,
Mt. Zhong Tiao is shrouded in mizzles,
From this gate pass flushing trees widely and remotely sprawl,
Far into the oceans the raving Yellow River rolls,
By tomorrow I’ll be at the Capital,
Tonight in this guest house I still dream of for fishing and woodcutting I toil and moil.

 

水龍吟 蘇軾

水龍吟 次韻章質夫楊花詞     蘇軾 (1037-1101)

似花還似非花，也無人惜從教墜。
拋家傍路，思量卻是，無情有思。
縈損柔腸，困酣嬌眼，欲開還閉。
夢隨風萬里，尋郎去處，又還被鶯呼起。
不恨此花飛盡，恨西園、落紅難綴。
曉來雨過，遺蹤何在，一池萍碎。
春色三分，二分塵土，一分流水。
細看來不是楊花，點點是離人淚。(

Shui Long Yin              Su shi (1037-1101)
Echoing Zhang Zhifu’s poem on the willow down

Looking like flowers but that is not what she is usually considered,

Flittering in the wind with nobody to care,
Desolately strewn by paths after shedding from her parent wickers,
Apathetic looking, actually deeply aggrieved by sorrows of sunder,
Her tormented zephyry eyes close for long solicitous wears and tears,
In her dreams her soul has travelled thousand miles to follow her lover,
But her fond dreams are relentlessly awakened by oriole twitters,
We don’t take to heart fallen willow down from her wickers,
We just take to heart fallen blossoms of the west garden that can never be on the spays restored,
After rain in the early hours,
What spring has left can be seen clear,
But where has the fallen willow down repaired?
Strewn on the pond are only duckweed tatters,
Spring has just left over,
Three parts of vernal splendour,
Two parts of dust,
One part of running water,
The fallen willow down is just drizzles of sundering tears.

 

 

送人東遊 溫庭筠

送人東遊    溫庭筠  (812-870)

荒戌落黃葉，浩然離故關。
高風漢陽渡，初日郢門山。
江上幾人在，天涯孤棹還。
何當重相見，樽酒慰離顏。

Bidding a Friend Adieu Off to His Eastern Trip      

Wen Tingjun (812-870)

Over the desolate citadel yellow leaves falls,

Resolutely off your homeland you pull,
From the Ford of Hanyang amidst the high gale,
At Mt Yingmen you’ll reach tomorrow amidst the early sun glow,
Over the river remaining are scarcely any pals,
Seeing you off to end of world in your solitary boat,
If we ever again come across,
I’ll treat you to a booze to console our sundering sorrows.

賊平後送人北歸 司空曙

賊平後送人北歸    司空曙 (720-790)

世亂同南去，時清獨北還。
他鄉生白髮，舊國見青山。
曉月過殘壘，繁星宿故關。
寒禽與衰草，處處伴愁顏。

Seeing Off My Friend Back to the North After
the Turmoil             Sikong Shu (720-790)

Together we returned to the South during the turmoils,

Now back to North alone you recoil after the unrest is quelled,
Your hair turned white while up in an outland you were piled,
The green mountains of your homeland you will again behold,
Amidst twilight you’ll pass the dilapidated citadels,
Under the multiple stars you’ll put up at the gate pass of old,
Wilted grasses and wintry fowls,
Will follow your melancholy wherever you go,

 

蟬 李商隱

蟬    李商隱(813-858)
本以高難飽，徒勞恨費聲。
五更疏欲斷，一樹碧無情。
薄宦梗猶泛，故園蕪已平。
煩君最相警，我亦舉家清。

Cicadas        Li Shangyin (813-858)

Staying clean and aloft and be left to starve but still refuses by any boodle defiled,

High up on trees but away its chirrs are muddled,
Every night on the fifth watch its chirr trails off,
But the insentient tree on which it settles remains in fine fettle,
As drifting tree branches I take up lowly requited devoirs on the rove,
My old garden has become destitute and uncultivable urging my recoil,
Thanks to your unrelenting remonstrating trills,
My whole family are free from any boodle defiled.

 

賣炭翁 白居易

賣炭翁     苦宮市也    白居易 (772-846)

賣炭翁，伐薪燒炭南山中，

滿面塵灰煙火色，兩鬢蒼蒼十指黑。
賣炭得錢何所營，身上衣裳口中食，
可憐身上衣正單，心憂炭價願天寒。
夜來城外一尺雪，曉駕炭車輾冰轍，
牛困人飢日已高，市南門外泥中歇。
翩翩兩騎來是誰，黃衣使者白衫兒，
手把文書口稱勅，迴車叱牛牽向北。
一車炭重千餘斤，宮使驅將惜不得，
半疋紅紗一丈綾，繫向牛頭充炭直。

The Old Coal Huckster   His coal ransacked by eunuchs from the Palace

Bai Juyi (772-846)

There is an old man who sells coal,

He makes coal out of wood he cuts in the south holts,
His face is full of dust and smoke coated,
His temple hoar and his fingers all darkly soiled,
On what does he spend his income gross?
Clothing himself and his victuals,
But clothes on him are thin and old,
What worries him is the weather gets too warm and price of coal too low,
In the night city suburbs were laid a foot of snow,
At daybreak his coal cart on the frozen road he drove,
At noon both his ox and himself were worn out with toil and moil,
Out of the south gate amid the muddy road he lulled,
Arrogantly two riders approached,
One clad in white and the other yellow,
Declaring an edict to pull,
Wheeling the coal cart to the north and forward they yowled,
More than a thousand catties weighs the cart of coal,
But what the eunuchs dictated one could not say no,
A zhang of silk and red gauze half a roll,
They thrusted these onto the ox head to settle for the coal.

早秋 許渾

早秋    許渾(788-860)

遙夜泛清瑟，西風生翠蘿。
殘螢棲玉露，早雁拂金河。
高樹曉還密，遠山晴更多。
淮南一葉下，自覺洞庭波。

Early Autumn         Xu Hun (788-860)

All through the long chilly night rove the unsettling zither ruffles,

From verdant creepers comes the western gale,
Surviving fireflies adhere on the jade autumnal dews,
Across the Galaxy the early wild goose reel,
Massively and rankly the tall trees in the morning jostle,
Against a clear sky distant mountains seem multiple,
South of the River Huai whenever a leaf falls,
Billows over Lake Dong Ting will heave to the call.

蜀先主廟 劉禹錫

蜀先主廟    劉禹錫 (772-842)

天地英雄氣，千秋尚凜然。
勢分三足鼎，業復五銖錢。
得相能開國，生兒不象賢。
凄涼蜀故妓，來舞魏宮前。

Temple of the First Emperor of Shu      Liu Yuxi (772-842)

His heroics had the whole universe thrilled,
After a thousand years he still keeps people in awe,
A tripartite division of the empire was destined to befall,
His greatest feat was to have the five zhu coin money of Emperor Wu of Han reinstalled,
With the help of a capable statesman chancellor he had his kingdom founded and unfurled,
What a pity his son was not as sage as himself at all,
What is more deplorable was the girl performers of Shu in times of old,
Had to perform before the Wei court who had taken over the rule.

‘

 

沒蕃故人 張籍

沒蕃故人     張籍  (766─830)

前年戌月支，城下沒全師。
蕃漢斷消息，死生長別離。
無人收廢帳，歸馬識殘旗。
欲祭疑君在，天涯哭此時。

An Old Friend Who Bit the Dust on the Barbarian Soil

Zhang Jie (766─830)

Year before last against the barbarian state of Yue Zhi you led an army to keep vigil,

Unfortunately the whole army perished in the battle beneath the city wall under your call,
Communications between the barbarian state and the Central empire was cut off,
The living and the dead are parted once and for all,
Away your torn commander tent had no one to stow,
Only from your escaped war horse can I recognize your banner tattoos,
Hesitating to offer you memorial services but I have to be infallible,
At end of world I could only let my tears fall.

 

桃源行 王維

桃源行       王維 (701-761)
漁舟逐水愛山春，兩岸桃花夾去津。
坐看紅樹不知遠，行盡青溪忽視人。
山口潛行始隈隩，山開曠望旋平陸。
遙看一處攢雲樹，近入千家散花竹。
樵客初傳漢姓名，居人未改秦衣服。
居人共住武陵源，還從物外起田園。
月明松下房櫳靜，日出雲中雞犬喧。
驚聞俗客爭來集，競引還家問都邑。
平明閭巷掃花開，薄暮漁樵乘水入。
初因避地去人間，及至成仙遂不還。
峽裏誰知有人事，世中遙望空雲山。
不疑靈境難聞見，塵心未盡思鄉縣。
出洞無論隔山水，辭家終擬長游衍。
自謂經過舊不迷，安知峰壑今來變。
當時衹記入山深，青溪幾曲到雲林。
春來遍是桃花水，不辨仙源何處尋。

Ballad of the Peach Fountain         Wang Wei (701-761)

To savour the verdure of spring following a stream a fisherman rows his boat,

The ancient ford is flanked on the banks by booming peach blows,
Ravished by the crimson blossoms he is oblivious of how far he would go,
Presently at the end of the stream he comes across some people,
Lurking into the mountain along an anfractuous road,
Soon the landscape spreads into levels,
Looking afar he sees trees stand cloud shrouded,
Getting closer he finds the multiple households are all veiled by blows and bamboos,
Coming across a woodcutter who is still named in the Han times title,
Dwellers there are still clad in Qin times clothes,
In this Peach Fountain of Wuling all people here have built their nestles,
Here in this outlandish world they’ve all built their farming households,
Amidst the pine woods the casements and houses lie under the bright moon in placid tranquil,
The sun comes out from the clouds in the morning amidst dog barks and cock crows,
On hearing a lay outsider making them a call,
They gather in no time as surprised as enthralled,
All trying to take him home to enquire whence he comes at all,
At dawn they sweep the alleys and passages of the fallen blows,
To avoid the Qin tyranny in the first place, a fishing and a woodcutting household came to this place along the stream at night fall,
Far away from the tumultuous world,
Finding this place a fairyland haven, never back to their old world would they recoil,
People in this vale have long buried in oblivion all troubles of the outside world,
From afar people just see an empty mountain shrouded in clouds,
The existence of such a fairy haven has never been in anybody’s know,
Nostalgia for one’s homeland can hardly be completely severed for ordinary people,
When one finally discards one’s encumbers and wants to go out to see the world,
Mountains and waters make no obstacles,
Leaving one’s home before one goes gadding in abandon is the thing to do first of all,
If you think having been there once you’ll never get lost,
But the mountain and dales do keep changing in due course,
You will only remember at first deeper and deeper into the mountain you kept hitting the trail,
Approaching the cloud shrouded woods you can hardly recall having passed how many rills,
When spring comes the whole place will be peach blossoms waters swilled,
You’ll never tell where the secret of the Peach Fountain is sealed.

秦中寄遠上人 孟浩然

秦中寄遠上人      孟浩然 (689-740)
一丘常欲臥，三徑苦無資。
北土非吾願，東林懷我師。
黃金燃桂盡，壯志逐年衰。
日夕涼風至，聞蟬但益悲。

To Monk Sublimate From Qin Zhong       
Meng Haoran (689-740)

Planning to lay in reclusion amidst a knoll,

Reaching there I lack the money to build three through trails,
To go further north is beyond my will,
Here I can always think of my mentor by the East Woods Temple,
My money has all gone with my costly livelihood,
Growing old my ambitions turn frail,
Bathing in the cool breeze as dusk falls,
Cicadas have my sorrows further ruffled.

 

 

老將行 王維

老將行                王維 (701-761)
少年十五二十時，步行奪得胡馬騎。
射殺山中白額虎，肯數鄴下黃須兒。
一身轉戰三千里，一劍曾當百萬師。
漢兵奮迅如霹靂，虜騎奔騰畏蒺藜。
衛青不敗由天幸，李廣無功緣數奇。
自從棄置便衰朽，世事蹉跎成白首。
昔時飛箭無全目，今日垂楊生左肘。
路傍時賣故侯瓜，門前學種先生柳。
蒼茫古木連窮巷，寥落寒山對虛牖。
誓令疏勒出飛泉，不似潁川空使酒。
賀蘭山下陣如雲，羽檄交馳日夕聞。
節使三河募年少，詔書五道出將軍。
試拂鐵衣如雪色，聊持寶劍動星文。
願得燕弓射天將，恥令越甲鳴吾君。
莫嫌舊日雲中守，猶堪一戰取功勛。

Ballad of an Old General            Wang Wei (701-761)

When he was just fifteen to twenty years old,

Just by walking beside a barbarian galloping soldier he seized his horse and riding it back he bolted,
In the mountains he shot a deadly tiger with a white brow,
He is no less valourous than the hero of Yexia the Yellow Bristles,
He fought in battles spanning three thousand miles,
Sword in hand he headed on an army of a million rivals,
Han soldiers were as swift as thunder bolts,
Iron puncture vine mines were what the barbarian galloping warriors feared most,
Wei Qing had never been defeated for the luck Providence bestowed,
Li Guang had never been obliged for his feat under his odd fortune wheel,
Since he was renounced he was left to languish and frail,
Time flies as he had nothing to beguile himself his hair soon grizzled,
In archery he used to excel,
Today on his left arm willow grows,
At times he even sells melons by the road,
In front of his door he plants the symbolic recluse willows,
Gloomily spreading ancient trees into his desolate alley sprawl,
Into his casements come the view of destitute chilly hills,
He swears to make the dried up Shule spring water again sprinkle,
A pragmatic man unlike the waterman of Yingchuan who could only be emboldened  by the wine bottle,
Beneath Mt. Helan soldier formations spread out like cloud files,
Night and day military documents shuttle,
The provincial governing generals of the Three River Regions are recruiting for the armies young people,
Five imperial edicts come to have the general reinstalled,
Polishing his armour as shiny as white snow,
On his precious lethal sword stars sparkle and thrill,
All he hankers is a Yan bow with which he shoots the rival general,
Greatly ashamed he would be if he let the soldiers from Yue to squabble in front of his Lord Imperial,
Never dismiss him as the old general who guarded Yunzhong in times of old,
He can still fight to earn himself feat phenomenal.

淮上喜會梁川故人 韋應物

淮上喜會梁川故人     韋應物  (737-792)
江漢曾為客，相逢每醉還。
浮雲一別後，流水十年間。
歡笑情如舊，蕭疏鬢已斑。
何因北歸去，淮上對秋山。

Delightfully Running Into My Liangchuan Old Friend

On the River Huai         Wei Yingwu (737-792)

Together in Jiang Han we once dwelled,

Whenever we met we drank to our full,
As drifting clouds apart we fell,
Like water along ten years have hence bowled,
We enjoy each other’s company as much as old,
Our hair already grizzled,
Why not back to our homeland we go?
Stranding here over the River Huai only to have the autumnal mountains to keep us in fall.

夢遊天姥吟留別 李白

夢遊天姥吟留別     李白(701- 762)
海客談瀛洲，煙濤微茫信難求。
越人語天姥，雲霓明滅或可睹。
天姥連天向天橫，勢拔五岳掩赤城。
天臺四萬八千丈，對此欲倒東南傾。
我欲因之夢吳越，一夜飛度鏡湖月。
湖月照我影，送我至剡溪。
謝公宿處今尚在，綠水蕩漾清猿啼，
腳著謝公屐，身登青雲梯。
半壁見海日，空中聞天雞。
千岩萬壑路不定，迷花倚石忽已暝。
熊咆龍吟殷岩泉，慄深林兮驚層巔。
雲青青兮欲雨，水澹澹兮生煙。
列缺霹靂，丘巒崩摧。
洞天石扉，訇然中開。
青冥浩蕩不見底，日月照耀金銀臺。
霓為衣兮風為馬，雲之君兮紛紛而來下。
虎鼓瑟兮鸞回車，仙之人兮列如麻。
忽魂悸以魄動，恍驚起而長嗟。
惟覺時之枕席，失向來之煙霞。
世間行樂亦如此，古來萬事東流水。
別君去兮何時還？
且放白鹿青崖間，須行即騎訪名山。
安能摧眉折腰事權貴，使我不得開心顏！

Gallivanting Around Mt. Tianlao in My Dreams      

Li Bai(701- 762)

When wayfaring travelers talk about Yingzhou the legendary oceanic isle,

It’s only an imaginary place intangible,
It’s somewhere in the billowy ocean amidst diaphanous brumes and mizzles,
When Mt. Tianlao is broached amidst the Yue people,
It could only be seen amidst random brumes and fanciful clouds and glows,
Stretching across the heaven its peak ranges straddle,
The five most important mountain ranges of the country it outrivals,
The Red City Mountain is overshadowed,
The heavenly Terrace Mountain rises forty eight thousand zhangs tall,
In front of it seas to the east tumble,
How much would I wish in dream vagaries to the land of Yue sail,
Across the moonlight on Lake Mirror fly my soul,
Bearing the moon coming to the Shan Rill,
Where Lord Xie of Jin once built his bower of recluse,
The hyaline waters there still placidly jangle,
Only more clearly the apes over the banks wail,
Putting on Lord Xie’s wooden sandals,
Up the cloud enshrouded steps I scramble,
Half way up the craggy peak the sun in the waters I behold,
In the air wild pheasants noisily warble,
Winding through thousands and thousands of craggy sienna and dales are multiple tortuous trails,
Presently dusk falls while savouring the fascinating flowers against the rocks I loll,
Amid the mountain bear howls echo to the sea dragons’ brawl and squall,
Quaked by their thundering roars even spring waters amid the rocks rattle and crackle,
Chilly trees deep up in the multiple peaks are startled and tremble,
Cloudscape turns dark blue and rain imbued,
Over the hyaline waters mists and mizzles grow,
With flashes of lightening sparkles thunders follow,
Peaks and ravines crackle,
Presently with a bang opens the fairy grotto’s rock portal,
In dark green it looks abysmal,
On the gold and silver pavilions there the sun and moon lights glow,
The supernals there put on fancy colourful clouds as their clothes and ride on wind as they travel,
Descending from the clouds they come in host,
Playing the zithers are the tigers while driving the carriages are the phoenixes celestial,
They come in a long long flax file,
Seeing these I am presently startled and my soul unsettled,
Here I jump up and utter a long wail,
By my side I only find my sleeping pillow,
I’ve lost all the brumes and cloud glows,
One should make one’s life the most pleasurable,
From of old all things in the world are like waters to the east drain and flow to the eternal,
Here we bid each other farewell,
When to meet again nobody knows,
I’ll put my white stag amid the green hills,
Whenever I want to gallivant round the great landscapes and mountains that enthrall,
Riding on it right off I’d go,
How can I twist myself to toady the high and powerful,
Blighting the will of my soul.