飲酒詩二十首(其四) 陶淵明

飲酒詩二十首(其四)      陶淵明 (365-427)

棲棲失群鳥，日暮猶獨飛。

徘徊無定止，夜夜聲轉悲。
厲響思清遠，去來何依依。
因值孤生松，斂翮遙來歸。
勁風無榮木，此蔭獨不衰。
托身已得所，千載不相違。

Inspirations upon drinking (Poem No.4)     

Tao Yuanming (365-427)

Anguished and flustered is the bird that breaks away from its flock,

Dusk falls, alone it flies on,
It lingers around like a vagrant forlorn,
Night after night, more grievously it mourns,
The shrillness of its cry reveals unworldlily its mind remains unworn,
The reluctance to settle just anywhere shows it sticks to what it insists upon,
Meanwhile, it discovers a solitary pine tree standing upright on its own,
So it sheds its loftiness and comes all its way to roost on it alone,
The rough winds leave no trees stand thriving unblown,
Only this pine tree on which it settles stands flourishing like an erect stone,
Now that it has found this haven on which to settle as its ultimate home,
It pledges to stick to its resolution for a millennium never to bemoan.

 

歸園田居五首(其三) 陶淵明

歸園田居五首(其三)      陶淵明(365-427)

種豆南山下，草盛豆苗稀。
侵晨理荒穢，帶月荷鋤歸。
道狹草木長，夕露沾我衣。
衣沾不足惜，但使願無違。

Retreating to a rustic life (Poem No. 3)     
Tao Yuanming (365-427)

I grow beans on the South Mountain terrace,

Bean sprouts become scarce while ill weeds grow apace,
Every morning I rise to weed and till my fields amidst dawn haze,
Go home bearing on my shoulder the hoe and the moonrays,
Along the narrow path dense tall grasses rage,
Evening dews always wet my clothes through them I make way,
Wetting my clothes does not get me frustrated,
As long as I can adhere to the choice of simple life I’ve made.

飲酒詩二十首(其五) 陶淵明

飲酒詩二十首(其五)         陶淵明 (365-427)

結廬在人境，而無車馬喧；
問君何能爾，心遠地自偏。
採菊東籬下，悠然見南山；
山氣日夕佳，飛鳥相與還。
此中有真意，欲辯已忘言。

Inspirations upon drinking (Poem No.5)      Tao Yuanming (365-427)

In a human community I've built my home cottage
Never bothered by the din of horses and carriages,
People want to know how this I manage,
Just keep your heart detached and you’ll feel the secludedness;
While I gather chrysanthemums under the east enclosure,
I savour the South Mountain with insousiant pleasure,
Each day the mountain augments its complexion with a consummate tincture,
Even birds take me as confrere;
There I’ve realized something really brightening to treasure,
When I try to expound on its nature,
Yet in a reverie I am captured.

責子 陶淵明

 責子           陶淵明  (365-427)

白髮被兩鬢，肌膚不復實。

雖有五男兒，總不好紙筆。
阿舒已二八，懶惰故無匹。
阿宣行志學，而不愛文術。
雍端年十三，不識六與七。
通子垂九齡，但覓梨與栗。
天運苟如此，且進杯中物。

Strictures on my sons    Dao Yuanming (365-427)

My temples are covered by white hair,

My skin and muscles firm and sturdy no more,
Though I have five sons,
None of them is a literature lover,
A Shu is sixteen,
For laziness, he is without compare,
A Xuan is fifteen,
Literary success is what he never cares,
A Yong and A Duan are both thirteen,
Can’t even count their fingers,
A Tong’s nine,
He is only interested in chestnuts and pears,
If that is my fate,
Beyond drinking, to what else can I repair.

 

歸園田居五首(其二) 陶淵明

歸園田居五首(其二)      陶淵明 (365-427)

野外罕人事，窮巷寡輪鞅。

白日掩荊扉，虛室絕塵想。

時復墟曲中，披草共來往。
相見無雜言，但道桑麻長。
桑麻日已長，我土日已廣。
常恐霜霰至，零落同草莽。


Retreating to a rustic life (Poem No. 2)
Tao Yuanming (365-427)
 Human businesses are rare in these far-flung villages,
So are commuting horses and carriages
In broad daylight, behind my closed wicker door,
I abstain from bothering myself with any worldly causes,
At times, I’ll visit the village marketplace,
Meet my neighbours all clad in straw capes,
We chat about nothing,
Except how our flaxes and mulberries are thriving,
As my flaxes and mulberries thrive day by day,
My fields expand in scale,
Of one thing I am most afraid,
When frost and hail come, all I grow will wilt like hay.

 

 

歸園田居五首(其一) 陶淵明

歸園田居五首(其一)      陶淵明 (365-427)

少無適俗韻，性本愛丘山。誤落塵網中，一去三十年。
羈鳥戀舊林，池魚思故淵。開荒南野際，守拙歸園田。
方宅十余畝，草屋八九間。榆柳蔭後檐，桃李羅堂前。
曖曖遠人村，依依墟裡煙。狗吠深巷中，雞鳴桑樹巔。
戶庭無塵雜，虛室有余閑。久在樊籠裡，復得返自然。


Retreating to a rustic life (Poem No. 1)     Tao Yuanming(365-427)

Never had I a worldly disposition,
Born with an innate love for landscapes and mountains,
Unwittingly I have fallen into the earthly trap,
For thirty years there I’ve been strapped;
A caged bird misses its home forest,
A pond fish hankers for the deep waters where it once rested;
I open up barren lands in the wild south territories,
In these farms I can guard my innate simplicity;
On a dozen or so acres of land houses are put up,
Together with eight or nine huts,
Behind the houses elms and willows are grown,
In the front peaches and plums bloom;
Neighboring hamlets can only be seen amidst the misty end,
Cooking smokes hang over where the houses stand,
Dogs bark in deep alleys,
Roosters crow on top of mulberries;
Nothing unbecoming and undesirable is seen in my household enclosure,
In my spacious bowers, there is only abundant leisurely pleasure,
After being long entrapped in the earthly cage,
I’ve at last come back into the bosom of Great Nature.