北山 王安石

北山            王安石(1021-1086)

北山輸綠漲橫陂，直塹回塘灩灩時。

細數落花因坐久，緩尋芳草得歸遲。

 

My North Mountain Villa           Wang Anshi (1021-1086)

The north mountain offers me vernal verdure with flooding waters beaming with smiling dimples,

The straight moat and the serpentine lake are teeming with waters glittering with sparkling sparkles,
Insouciantly I relish the splendor by slowly counting the fallen blows,
Gallivanting amidst the rankly spreading lush grasses I hang around till late to recoil.

 

 

寓意 晏殊

寓意  晏殊 (991-1055)

油壁香車不再逢，峽雲無跡任西東。  

梨花院落溶溶月，柳絮池塘淡淡風。  
幾日寂寥傷酒後，一番蕭瑟禁煙中。  
魚書欲寄何由達，水遠山長處處同。  

An Allegory      Yan Shu (991-1055)

Her exquisitely painted and embellished fragrant carriage makes no more calls,

Cloudscape over the Wu Gorge once out of the mountains there makees no more enthralling spectacles,
Caressing the pear blossom garden is watery moonlight mellowy mellow,
By zephyry zephyr the pond strewn with willow down is fondled,
Loaded with wine, I’ve been pining these days through solitude in dole,
Amidst dismal solicitude I’ve languished through the Cold Meals Festival,
A billet-doux to you I wish to mail,
But wheresoever in this boundless world should it go?

 

 

終南別業 王維

終南別業    王維(701-761)

中歲頗好道，晚家南山陲。
興來每獨往，勝事空自知。
行到水窮處，坐看雲起時。
偶然值林叟，談笑無還期。

My Bower at Mt Zhongnan             Wang Wei (701-761)

Buddhist cultivation in my mid-age I tend to pursue,

In my late years on the slope of Mt. Zhongnan I’ve built my bower of recluse,
Whenever whimmed there I repair alone as a rule,
With no one to share I just keep the pleasurable moments to myself to peruse,
I gallivant to the end of the waters with no further to ensue,
Whence I sit contemplating the cloudscape’s evolving issues,
By chance I’ll run into a gaffer rural,
In a pleasant discourse we’ll engage and forget to truce.

 

 

蜂 羅隱

蜂    羅隱(唐)

不論平地與山尖 ，無限風光盡被占，

採得百花成蜜後 ，為誰辛苦為誰甜。

Bees         Luo Yin (833-910)

On level lands and pinnacles,

They are all over the landscape in spots of enchanting scenic spectacle,
Collecting nectar for honey from multiple blows,
For whose sweets do they toil and moil.

自遣 羅隱

自遣      羅隱 (833-910)

得即高歌失即休，多愁多恨亦悠悠；

今朝有酒今朝醉，明日愁來明日愁。

Beguiling My Time        Luo Yin (833-910)

When things come my way I hail in glee, if they don’t I’ll not rue,

Fretted by glums and resentments I just set my mind loose,
If I get hold of wine today I go right on the booze,
When glum comes tomorrow it’s tomorrow’s issue.

春暮遊小園 王淇

春暮遊小園               王淇(宋)

一從梅粉褪殘妝， 塗抹新紅上海棠。  

開到荼蘼花事了， 絲絲天棘出莓牆。  

Gadding About in the Little Garden in the Last Days of Spring                                           Wang Qi (Song Poet)

In the wake of the plum blossom shedding her last pink petals,

Coming on the stage will be the crab blossom with her new crimson apparel,
There is no more blooming after the sweet rose,
Leaving only sprouts of creepers sneaking out from cracks of mossy walls.

 

春暮 曹豳

春暮       曹豳(唐)

門外無人問落花，綠陰冉冉遍天涯。

林鶯啼到無聲處，青草池塘獨聽蛙。

Spring’s Last          Cao Bin (Tang Poet)

People outside my door couldn’t care less any more about the fallen blows,

Rankly rankly spread the verdant shades to end of world,
Orioles twittering amidst the woods have twittered out into mum muffles,
Sitting alone by the green green grass of the pond I listen to the frog cloaks which have me enthralled.

 

觀李固言司馬題山水圖 杜甫

觀李固言司馬題山水圖      杜甫(712-770)

方丈渾連水，天台總映雲，  

人間長見畫，老去恨空聞。  
范蠡舟偏小，王喬鶴不群，
此生隨萬物，何處出塵氛。  

On Marshal Li Guyan’s Poem on the Landscape Painting  

Du Fu (712-770)

The fairy mountain melts into the oceans,

The Heaven Terrace Mountain is always enshrouded in a diaphanous brume curtain,
I’ve seen these scenarios painted on many occasions,
But getting old I’ve never seen them with my own vision,
Like Fan Li I have a boat but it’s too small for any mission,
Even with a supernal crane like Wang Qiao I couldn’t make the same expeditions,
All my life I drift with the whole creations,
Wheresoever could I rid myself of all earthly contaminations?

 

 

 

少年遊 蘇軾

少年遊   潤州作，代人寄遠      蘇軾 (1037-1101)

去年相送，餘杭門外，飛雪似楊花。
今年春盡，楊花似雪，猶不見還家。

對酒卷簾邀明月，風露透窗紗。
恰似姮娥憐雙燕，分明照、畫梁斜。

Shao Nian You  Written in Runzhou for someone to someone far off
Su Shi (1037-1101)

This time last year I bid you farewell,

Outside my door in Hangzhou snows like willow down flew aloft,
This year spring again speeds off,
As snowdrifts willow down again flitter tall,
You are yet to hit your homebound trail,
Beyond the rolled up portiere I invite the bright moon with wine in hand to join me for the bottle,
Through the portiere wind brings dews in over the window,
As if taking fond care of the couple of roosting swallows,
On the ornate rafter the slanting bright moonlight glows.

 

 

 

 

望江南 溫庭筠

望江南          溫庭筠(812-870)

梳洗罷，獨倚望江樓 ，

過盡千帆皆不是，
斜暉脈脈水悠悠， 腸斷白蘋洲。

Espying River South           Wen Tingjun (812-870)

Having spruced up solitarily I lean on the River Tower,

A thousand sails pass but none is the one I seek after,
Lost in a reverie I gaze amidst the flush of the setting sun affectionately at the gently running water,
Over the seaweed ait my bruised soul hovers.

 

絕句 夏元鼎

絕句    夏元鼎(宋)

崆峒訪道至湘湖，萬卷詩書看轉愚。

踏破鐵鞋無覓處，得來全不費工夫。

 

A Jue Ju (Snapped-off lines) Poem       Xia Yuanding (Song Poet)

Looking for my illumination guru in Mt. Kong Tong my trip takes me to Lake Xiang as it ensues,

Flipping through thousands of books trying to solve my frustrations I’ve become more puzzled,
Seeking everywhere even having worn out my iron shoes the whereabouts of the solutions there is not a clue,
Presently they turn up without the slightest toil and moil.

 

梅花二首(其二) 蘇軾

梅花二首(其二)        蘇軾 (1037-1101)

何人把酒慰深幽, 開自無聊落更愁,

幸有清溪三百曲, 不辭相送到黃州.

The Plum Blossoms (Poem No.2)       Su Shi (1037-1101)

Who’d offer a cup of wine to console her in her desolate still,

Idling in melancholy in bloom but even more dismal when she falls on wilt,
Fortunately there are three hundred tortuous bends of the hyaline rills,
With them she can drift off to end of world where I sulk in exile and fare ill.

 

梅花二首(其一) 蘇軾

梅花二首(其一)          蘇軾 (1037-1101)

春來幽谷水潺潺, 的皪梅花草棘間.

一夜東風吹石裂, 半隨飛雪度關山.

The Plum Blossoms (Poem No.1)       Su Shi (1037-1101)

Spring brings spluttering waters amid desolate dales,

Amidst the grasses and shrubs the plum blossom sparkles,
Under the east wind at night even the rocks crackle,
With the snowdrift half of the plum blossoms fly over the mountain vale.

洗兒 蘇軾

洗兒     蘇軾 (1037-1101)

人皆養子望聰明，我被聰明誤一生。

惟願孩兒愚且魯，無災無難到公卿。

A Gesaku (Playful Poem) on Bathing My Son        

Su Shi (1037-1101)

Everybody wants to have sons smart and shrewd,

But I’ve made a mess of my life for being astute,
All I want is my sons are just reckless damfools,
Peacefully and genially exult in the highest ranks all their lives through.

離思 元稹

離思       元稹(779-831)

曾經滄海難為水，除卻巫山不是雲。

取次花叢懶回顧，半緣修道半緣君。

Griefs on the Departed         Yuan Zhen (779-831)

Having seen the ocean one tends to disparage all other waters,

Without Mt. Wu cloudscapes elsewhere are nothing spectacular,
Passing through a bevy of belles my head wouldn’t care to gyre,
Partly for you and partly for the Buddhist cultivation I anchor.