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.

 

歲暮歸南山 孟浩然

歲暮歸南山       孟浩然 (689-740)
北闕休上書，南山歸敝廬。
不才明主棄，多病故人疏。
白髮催年老，青陽逼歲除。
永懷愁不寐，松月夜窗虛。

Back to Mt. Zhongnan at Year End       
Meng Haoran (689-740)

Present no more memorials in the Capital,

Back to my old bower at Mt. Zhongnan I recoil,
A man of no merits is renounced by His Sage Lord Imperial,
He who lays up in his ailing bed is alienated even by his old pals,
My hoar hair hurries me into years senile,
The approaching new vernal season is pressing to make its call,
Sleeplessly I lie plagued by unrelenting dismals,
Only the moon over the pines comes through the casement obligingly to have me consoled.

 

送李中丞歸漢陽別業 劉長卿

送李中丞歸漢陽別業       劉長卿  (726-786)
流落征南將，曾驅十萬師。
罷官無舊業，老去戀明時。
獨立三邊靜，輕生一劍知，
茫茫江漢上，日暮欲何之。

Seeing Li the General Secretary Back to His Hanyang Villa 

Liu Changqing (726-786)

A wretched fallen southern expeditionary general,

Over an army of a hundred thousand soldiers he had once wielded,
After being dismissed back in his homeland he could not live on any old worthy chattels,
His old sagacious Majesty he still holds in awe as he grows old,
He personally used to keep all three border peripherals quiet and peaceful,
How he slighted his own life for the country only his sword knows,
Over the raving waters of the Great River and the Han River that boundlessly roll,
Who knows wheresoever he is heading as night falls.

 

酬程近即事見贈 韓翃

酬程近即事見贈     韓翃(736-790)
長簟迎風早，空城澹月華。
星河秋一雁，砧杵夜千家。
節候看應晚，心期臥已賒。
向來吟秀句，不覺已鳴鴉。

Replying to Cheng Jin’s Recently Bestowed Poem   

Han Yi (736-790)

On my long bamboo mat whistles the early autumnal gale,

Over the desolate city spreads the moon’s mellow glow,
Across the heavens soars a solitary autumnal wild goose,
Night laundry hustle and bustle comes from thousands of households,
As daylight dims out dusk falls,
Anticipating your poem sleep I stall,
Intoning your lovely poem over and over,
Presently caw the morning crows.

谷口書齋寄楊補闕 錢起

谷口書齋寄楊補闕         錢起 (710-782)
泉壑帶茅茨，雲霞生薜帷。
竹憐新雨後，山愛夕陽時。
閑鷺棲常早，秋花落更遲。
家僮掃羅徑，昨與故人期。

To Yang the Memorial Patcher from My Study in Gukou     Qian Qi (710-782)

Springs and ravines lead to my hovel,

Mists and brumes shroud my creepers door and portieres,
After the new rain the bamboos look fresh and adorable,
The mountains look particularly lovely in the setting sun glow,
To roost early leisurely herons usually go,
Autumnal flowers make a belated fall,
Telling my servants to sweep the creepers strewn trail,
As I’d a date yesterday to coze with my old pal.

六月二十七日望湖樓醉書 蘇軾

六月二十七日望湖樓醉書    蘇軾(1037-1101)

黑雲翻墨未遮山， 白雨跳珠亂入船。
卷地風來忽吹散， 望湖樓下水如天。

Written in Drunkenness on the Lake Contemplating Pavilion on the Twenty-seventh of the Six Month            
Su Shi (1037-1101)

Wide spreading clouds as black as ink rove in the heavens leaving only the mountains unveiled,

White pearls of raindrops ragingly splash all over the boat,
Presently blasting away the clouds and all over the land comes a white squall,
The waters beneath the pavilion remain as azure as the heavens and as ravishing as the lake spells.

 

 

餞別王十一南遊 劉長卿

餞別王十一南遊     劉長卿 (726-786)
望君煙水闊，渾手淚沾巾。
飛鳥沒何處，青山空向人。
長江一帆遠，落日五湖春。
誰見汀洲上，相思愁白蘋。

Bidding Wang Shiyi Farewell with a Feast on His Southbound Tour                        Liu Changqing (726-786)

Beyond misty waters boundlessly sprawl,

Waving you goodbye my tears have my scarf soaked through,
Where will the soaring birds roost,
Now only the green mountain remains to keep me in fall,
Along with the Great River fading away is your sail,
The setting sun flushes on the Lake Tai’s sceneries vernal,
Who can see me standing in the shoals?
Pining for you over the white water weeds in glum dismals.

 

 

 

送僧歸日本 錢起

送僧歸日本      錢起 (710-782)
上國隨緣住，來途若夢行。
浮天滄海遠，去世法舟輕。
水月通禪寂，魚龍聽梵聲。
惟憐一燈影，萬里眼中明。

Seeing A Monk Off Back to Japan        Qian Qi (710-782)

On Buddhistic ordain to China you’ve traveled,

It’s been a dream voyage you’ve gone through
As far as to the heavens your boat has sailed.
Now on a light sutra boat back you float,
The waters and the moon will appreciate the Buddhistic peace and voidness you uphold,
Fishes and sea serpents can listen to the sutra you spiel,
The solitary Buddhistic lamp on your boat,
Will have you further enlightened through the thousands and thousands of miles.

 

行路難(其三) 李白

行路難(其三)       李白  (701- 762)

有耳莫洗潁川水，有口莫食首陽蕨。
含光混世貴無名，何用孤高比雲月。
吾觀自古賢達人，功成不退皆殞身。
子胥既棄吳江上，屈原終投湘水濱。
陸機雄才豈自保，李斯稅駕苦不早。
華亭鶴唳詎可聞，上蔡蒼鷹何足道。
君不見吳中張翰稱達生，秋風忽憶江東行。
且樂生前一杯酒，何須身後千載名。

Arduous Road (Poem No. 3)      Li Bai (701- 762)

Never wash your ears in the River Ying waters,

Never eat the brackens of Mt. Shouyang no matter how hungry you are,
Lie low be ordinary, and cut no conspicuous figures,
To the solitary lofty moon and drifting clouds in the heavens you need not compare,
From of old people of great feat who prospered,
Had perished if they had not soon retired,
Wu Zixu of Wu killed himself and found his body dumped in the Wu River,
Qu Yuan of Chu drowned himself in the Xiang River,
A man as well learnt and ingenious as Lu Zhan of Jin could not even have himself protected and spared,
The Prime Minister Li Si of the First Emperor of Qin should have regretted he had not earlily retired,
Couldn’t hear the herons squawk anymore Lu Zhan distressed over,
Can’t you not see the sanguine Zhang Han of Jin who was made by the Prince of Qi a major courtier,
When the autumnal gale brings in the delicacies of wild rice stew and perch stews he resolutely made up his mind to retire,
Enjoy your life with the cup of wine you are offered,
Just ignore what name you’ll leave after.