歸隱 陳摶

歸隱      陳摶 (? -989)

十年蹤跡走紅塵，回首青山入夢頻，

紫綬縱榮爭及睡，朱門雖富不如貧。

愁聞劍戟扶危主，悶聽笙歌聒醉人，

攜取舊書歸萬隱，野花啼鳥一般春。

Retreating into Reclusion       Chen Tuan (? -989)

       

These ten years I’ve been roaming all over the world’s quarters,

Looking back, the green hills that often adorn my dreams are just too familiar,

The purple insignia of the court can never compare to a good night’s sleep however glorious they are,

Wealthily living behind a great crimson gate is but as good as the poor,

Army commanders, powerful they may be, in times of turmoil, risk their lives for their threatened sovereign in danger,

Court music, however fascinating, annoys those who just want to get drunk as an undesirable buster,

I’d better take all my old books and retreat to my old reclusive bower,

Where the wild flowers and birds are just as enchanting as anywhere.

自詠 韓愈

自詠       韓愈 (768-824)

一封朝奏九重天，夕貶潮陽路八千。

本為聖朝除弊政，敢將衰朽惜殘年。

雲橫秦嶺家何在？雪擁藍關馬不前。

知汝遠來應有意，好收吾骨瘴江邊。

A Poem On Myself      Han Yu (768-824)

No sooner had I presented my memorial in the morning to the Emperor,

Than I was demoted and exiled eighty thousand miles south to county of Chao’an in the vesper,

Trying only to admonish His Majesty on his erroneous decision for the state’s welfare,

How dare I shirk my duties for this descript body of mine in my late years,

Clouds shroud the Qin Ridges blinding the bearings of my home quarters,

Thwarted by heavy snow at the Azure Gate my horse would go no further,

I know what’s in your mind as you’ve come such a long way to meet me here,

It’s so thoughtful of you prepared to collect my bones in this country of miasma.

憫農(其一) 李紳

憫農(其一)    李紳(772-846)
春種一粒粟，秋收萬顆子。
四海無閑田，農夫猶餓死。

Saluting the Farmers (Poem No.1)        Li Shen(772-846)

Plant a seed at the beginning of the vernal spell,

Reap in the following autumn thousands of cereal particles,

All over the country no fields are left idle,

Even that farmers die of starvation is not unusual.

憫農(其二) 李紳

憫農(其二)     李紳 (772-846)
鋤禾日當午，汗滴禾下土。
誰知盤中飧，粒粒皆辛苦。

Saluting the Farmers (Poem No.2)         Li Shen(772-846)

Ploughing till middle of the day,

Sweats wetting the soil under the grain blade,

Don’t you know every grain of rice we eat in the day,

Is the hard work of the farmers who ply the trade.

詠鵝 駱賓王

詠鵝       駱賓王 (640-684)

鵝，鵝，鵝，曲項向天歌。

白毛浮綠水，紅掌撥清波。

Ode to the Goose           Luo Binwang (640-684)

Goose, goose, goose.

Crooking your neck to the sky melodiously you squall,

On the azure waters your white feather float,

Swimming in the limpid waters your red flippers paddle.

朱鷺 張籍

朱鷺     張籍 (766─830)

翩翩兮朱鷺，來泛春塘棲綠樹。

羽毛如翦色如染，遠飛欲下雙翅斂。
避人引子入深塹，動處水紋開灩灩。
誰知豪家網爾軀，不如飲啄江海隅。

Ode to the Ibis           Zhang Jie (766─830)

Daintily Daintly she cuts a figure sublimely elegant and graceful,

Bathing and roosting on the verdant trees of the spring pool,

Plumes of her scissorwings are dye instilled,

After soaring afar she alights with wings folded,

To avoid being pestered she takes her offsprings to take refuge deep in the dales,

Her movements in the water ruffle it to bloom into enchanting dimples,

Please don’t fall prey to becoming the pet of the rich and powerful,

You had better stick to fishing and drinking in the river shoals.

  

浣溪沙 張元幹

浣溪沙        張元幹(1091 -1170)

山繞平湖波撼城，湖光倒影浸山青。
水晶樓下欲三更。
霧柳暗時雲度月，露荷翻處水流螢。
蕭蕭散髮到天明。

Huan Xi Sha                   Zhang Yuangan(1091 -1170)

The peaceful waters of the lake lie within the encircling monticules,

The oscillating waves toss and pelt against the ancient city wall,
On the efflugent hyaline lake waters the verdant mountains print resplendent reflective shadows,
Idling under the crystal palace gazebo,
It’s already the third watch before I know,
Shrouding the moon are the slow moving clouds,
Dimming even the willows,
Under the zephyr the dew laden lotus twiddle,
Anon fireflies flitter on the water all over the pool,
Letting my hair down loose I sit idly till dawn kindles.

 

長相思 万俟詠

長相思    雨        万俟詠 (宋)
一聲聲，一更更。
窗外芭蕉窗裡燈，此時無限情。
夢難成，恨難平。
不道愁人不喜聽，空階滴到明。
Chang Xiang Si   Rain     Moqi Yong (Song Poet)

Every rain beat every dripping dingle,

Amidst every watch drum beat pommel,
Chimimg in with the rain beats on the plantains outside the window,
Plunging me into infinite dismals,
However hard slumber is to lay hold,
So is to get over my long disgruntles,
Like it or not despite your doles,
The rain is not at your disposal,
It just keeps beating on the steps of the courtyard till dawn is over the threshold.

 

 

柳梢青 劉辰翁

柳梢青     春感      劉辰翁 (1232-1297)
鐵馬蒙氈，銀花洒淚，春入愁城 。

笛裡番腔，街頭戲鼓，不是歌聲。
那堪獨坐青燈 ，想故國、高台月明。
輦下風光，山中歲月，海上心情。

Liu Shao Qing  Spring Melancholy    LIU Chenweng (1232-1297)

Armoured warhorses with rug mantle rage rampant in the old capital,

Even the lanterns of the Lantern Festival are humiliated and let their tears fall,

Spring comes silently to the unsettled gloomy capital,
The Mongolia street performers’ theatrical drums are just twaddles but nothing musical,
I just can’t stand sitting solitarily under the green lamp to dwell on the bright moon beside the high tower of the old capital,
The grandeur the old Emperor molded,
Reminds me of the frustrated envoy Su Wu who stuck to shepherding to avoid being on the conqueror’s behoof.

 

 

臨江仙 陳與義

臨江仙  夜登小閣，憶洛中舊遊    陳與義 (1090- 1138)
憶昔午橋橋上飲，坐中都是豪英。

長溝流月去無聲，杏花疏影裡，吹笛到天明。
二十餘年如一夢，此身雖在堪驚。
閒登小閣看新晴，古今多少事，漁唱起三更。

Lin Jiang Xin       Chen Yuyi (1090- 1138)

Mounting the Little Chamber at night, I recall my previous visits to Luoyang

Recalling that year on the Noon Bridge I threw a booze,

Joining me there were many a hero,
In the glittering waters of the long fosse the moon serenely flowed,
Amidst the checkered apricot blossom shadows I played the fife throughout the night till dawn called,
Twenty years fleeted away as a dream cameo,
Though now I am still hearty and hale,
With my country broken in a debacle,
I am greatly appalled,
Insouciantly I mount this chamber again to relish the scenery under the fresh moon glow,
Presently all stories of the past ages in the midnight fishermen songs dissolve.

 

利州南渡 溫庭筠

利州南渡     溫庭筠 (812-870)

澹然空水對斜暉，曲島蒼茫接翠微。

波上馬嘶看棹去，柳邊人歇待船歸。

數叢沙草群鷗散，萬頃江田一鷺飛。

誰解乘舟尋范蠡，五湖煙水獨忘機。

The South Crossing at Li Zhou       Wen Tingjun (812-870)

 

The hyaline lake waters lie placidly under the fading sun’s slanting glow,

The winding island spreads to join the azure mountain amidst gloomy mizzles,

Amidst the whining of horses over the waters goes a shuttle punt ferry boat,

People stand beside the shore side willows waiting for the return trip of the boat,

Amid the grasses on the sands scatter the sea gulls,

Over the million acres of spreading fields soars a lone heron,

Who can understand my seeking of the great highly revered Fan Li,

Amidst the misty lake waters he had himself exiled.

 

贈蕭瑀 唐太宗

贈蕭瑀        唐太宗李世民 

疾風知勁草，板蕩識誠臣。
勇夫安知義，智者必懷仁。

To Xiao Yu       Li Shimin (Emperor Taizong of Tang)

Only amidst squall can one tell what grass stands sturdy most,

Only through turbulent times can one identify the truly leal,
The uncouth knows nothing of the wise man’s motto,
The wise man knows only magnanimity will eventually prevail.

青玉案 無名氏

青玉案    無名氏(宋)

年年社日停針線。怎忍見、雙飛燕。
今日江城春已半。一身猶在，亂山深處，寂寞溪橋畔。
春衫著破誰針線。點點行行淚痕滿。落日解鞍芳草岸。
花無人戴，酒無人勸，醉也無人管。

Qing Yu An    Anonymous (Song Poet)

Every year on the Harvest Festival she stops plying with the thread and needle,

Desolate in her boudoir she can’t bear seeing the pairs of capers cutting swallows,
With spring half gone the green green grass in my homeland still rankly sprawls,
Stranded solitarily deep amidst the mountains by a desolate bridge beside a rill,
Torn and rugged are my spring clothes but there is nobody to get them patched up well,
Feeling aggrieved I can’t stop my tears fall,
Under the setting sun I unsaddle my horse by the rank grass paved shore of the rill,
I’d like to wear a blossom on my head but there is no one at my disposal,
I’d also like to revel in a booze but have no boon fellows,
Nobody will care even if I am sozzled.

 

 

憶秦娥 劉辰翁

憶秦娥    劉辰翁 (1232-1297)

中齋上元客散感舊，賦《憶秦娥》見屬，一讀凄然。隨韻寄情，不覺悲甚。

燒燈節，朝京道上風和雪。

風和雪，江山如舊，朝京人絕。
百年短短興亡別，與君猶對當時月。
當時月，照人燭淚，照人梅髮。

Yi Qin E             LIU Chenweng (1232-1297)

After his guests for the Lantern Festival have scattered, my friend Deng Yan was mused into writing a verse on this tune and bestowed it on me. So I also write one to the same rhyme to echo his.

This Lantern Festival the road to the old capital is raging with squally rain and snow,

Infused with squally rain and snow, even our eyes are daubily muddled,
While our country’s mountains and rivers strut as usual,
The number of people travelling on the road to the capital comes to null,
In the span of a century a kingdom comes to its debacle,
We are still basking in the moon of that epoch,
The moon of that epoch,
Still shining on our hair as white as the plum blossoms as well as the weeping candles.

 

 

 

一萼紅 周密

一萼紅   登蓬萊閣有感       周密(1232-1298 )

步深幽。正雲黃天淡，雪意未全休。鑒曲寒沙，茂林煙草，俯仰千古悠悠。歲華晚、飄零漸遠，誰念我、同載五湖舟。磴古松斜，崖陰苔老，一片清愁。

回首天涯歸夢，幾魂飛西浦，淚灑東州。故國山川，故園心眼，還似王粲登樓。最憐他、秦鬟妝鏡，好江山、何事此時遊。為喚狂吟老監，共賦銷憂。

Yi E Hong   Muse on the Penglai Chamber       

Zhou Mi (1232-1298 )

Up this umbrageous chamber I scramble,
The sky is laden with gloomily heavy yellow clouds portending a squall,
By Mirror Pool’s chilly shoal,
The verdant woods and grasses are all shrouded in hazy mizzles,
Stories of all the past ages fleet away in the trice of a noddle,
I am getting old,
Forlornly I drift more and more remote,
Who will still remember cruising with me on the Five Lakes in the same boat,
By the ancient stone steps the pines lean at an angle,
In the dark nooks of the mountains spread layers of old mosses,
Surging in me are glum dismals,
Returning to my homeland in Xi Pu in my dreams I recall,
And the tears over Dong Zhou I spilled,
Now up the mountains and rivers of my homeland I scramble,
Just as the verse “Mounting the Tower” on the city wall tower of Jingzhou Wang Can composed,
They are all so heartening in my eyeful,
Mt Qin Wang was as captivating as a sprucing belle in front of the Mirror Pool,
Beholding such thrilling vista, I am greatly enthralled,
Why do I pick this time to gallivant and rove,
Just trying to raise the madly concocting bard He Tianzhang to join me in verse composing over a booze to quell our dismals.

 

聞鵲喜 周密

聞鵲喜   吳山觀濤    周 密 (1232-1298 )

天水碧，染就一江秋色。
鰲戴雪山龍起蟄，快風吹海立。
數點煙鬟青滴，一杼霞綃紅濕，
白鳥明邊帆影直，隔江聞夜笛。

Wen Que Xi   Contemplating Hurling Billows at Mt. Wu    

Zhou Mi (1232-1298 )

The azure heavens and hyaline sea waters effulgently sparkle,

Dying the whole river with hues autumnal,
The giant magic turtle in the seas hurl up mountains of billowy snows,
The underwater sea serpents and dragons also start to bolt,
The sea seems to stand upright amidst the conjured squall,
Mountains stand in viridity like hair buns of fairy girls,
The heavens are painted with a flush of evening glow,
Literally there paved a red gauze roll,
With white wings spread sea birds towards the flush of glow sail,
In the twilight thrown into relief are dots of reared sails,
Anon from across the river come evening pipes ulutant tunefuls.