Saturday 29 October 2016

送上人 劉長卿


送上人       劉長卿 (726-786)
孤雲將野鶴,豈向人間住。
莫買沃洲山,時人已知處。
 
Bidding Monk Sublime Adieu      Liu Changqing (726-786)
A forlorn piece of drifting cloud floats off with a wild heron,
Surely not to the mundane human world they sail off,
Nor would it be Mt, Wozhou thither on,
It’s now a place well know to all.
 
 

Tuesday 25 October 2016

彈琴 劉長卿

彈琴      劉長卿(726-786)
泠泠七弦上,靜聽松風寒。
古調雖自愛,今人多不彈。
 
Playing the Lute       Liu Changqing (726-786)
From the callously vapid seven string music tool,
I listen quietly to the song the Pine Wind Chills,
This is an old tune I love very much myself,
What a shame people now don’t play it much still.
 

Friday 21 October 2016

渡漢江 李頻

渡漢江     李頻 (818 – 876)
嶺外音書絕,經冬復立春。
近鄉情更怯,不敢問來人。
 
Crossing the Han River       Li Pin (818 – 876)
Living beyond the south ranges from my home I receive no epistles,
It’s now well past winter and spring again approaches,
Having crossed the Han River my homeland is close,
But the closer I get the yellower my heart grows,
I even dare not ask people things of my household.
 

Monday 17 October 2016

聽箏 李端

     李端(743-782)
鳴箏金粟柱,素手玉房前。
欲得周郎顧,時時誤拂弦。
 
Listening to the Zither      Li Duan    (743-782)
On the strings over the gold struts of the zither she sits down to buckle,
Between the jade strut vaults her white delicate fingers stroll,
As her dream lover knows the knack of the zither thoroughly well,
Trying to enlist his help to correct her flaws she deliberately gives a faulty show.
 

Thursday 13 October 2016

玉階怨 李白

玉階怨    李白(701- 762)
玉階生白露,夜久侵羅襪。
卻下水晶帘,玲瓏望秋月。

Rancor on the Jade Steps      Li Bai (701- 762)

On the jade steps white dews grow,
Deep in the chilly night into one’s socks they impale,
She lets down the crystal portiere,
Through it  she alone contemplates the efflugent autumnal moon’s glow.

 

Sunday 9 October 2016

哥舒歌 西鄙人

哥舒歌     西鄙人()
北斗七星高,哥舒夜帶刀。
至今窺牧馬,不敢過臨洮。
 
A Song of the Turkic Geshu Han   
Someone in the West Borders (Tang Poet)

High high hang the seven stars of the North Pole,
Geshu Han carries a sword even in nightfall,
Today over the Han purlieu the Tibetans dare not raise their horses,
Even Lin and Tao they dare not wade across.
 

Wednesday 5 October 2016

秋詞二首(其二) 劉禹錫



秋詞二首()     劉禹錫 (772-842)
山明水凈夜來霜, 數樹深紅出淺黃。
試上高樓清入骨, 豈如春色嗾人狂。


An Autumnal Verse (Poem No.2)       Liu Yuxi (772-842)

Mountains stand vividly salient and waters lie hyaline despite night frost extensively swills,
Red trees strut out against the rusticity befitting the seasonal feel,
On the high towers cut you to the quick will be the snapping chills,
But it spares you the enthralling ravishing vernal thrills.

 

Saturday 1 October 2016

秋詞二首(其一) 劉禹錫


秋詞二首(其一)    劉禹錫 (772-842)
自古逢秋悲寂寥, 我言秋日勝春朝。
晴空一鶴排雲上, 便引詩情到碧霄。

An Autumnal Verse (Poem No.1)          Liu Yuxi (772-842)

Autumnal melancholy and solitude has been plaguing people from of old,
Compared to a spring morning I find an autumn day even more congenial,
In the hyaline azure ether a heron cuts across the cloudscape all by itself,
The azure heavens my poetic muse will mount as well.