Autumn Night, A Note Wei Yingwu (~737 – 792) By chance I think of you this autumn nightBetween my steps and song, and cooling skies:Within your quiet hills a pine cone falls,For you as well must not have closed your eyes. Chinese 秋夜寄邱員外韋應物 懷君屬秋夜散步詠涼天空山松子落幽人應未眠 Pronunciation Qiū Yè Jì Qiū …
Read MoreFarewell to a Dear Friend
Within the mountain midst, a farewell scene:I shut my door, the sun begins to set.In spring next year the grass will turn to green,But if you’ll come back here, I know not yet. Chinese 送別 山中相送罷，日暮掩柴扉。春草明年綠，王孫歸不歸。 Pronunciation Sòng Bié Shān zhōng xiāng sòng bà，Rì mù yǎn chái fēi。Chūn cǎo nián nián …
Read MoreSaying Goodbye at a Water Pavilion Feast
Silent night, deserted town,A cold pond and a warehouse wall.The frontier cicadas already buzz,And the tree leaves change for fall.Your road will touch the distant sky,But we’ll sing until the morning call.Unable to watch you leave us behind,The plunging moon like a hook befalls. Original …
Read MoreSending Off My Cousin, Beyond the Castle by the Southern Moon
At home we fenced with traveling swords,Cutting at this and that like idle lords;The two of us, like towns around a turn,Will drift apart as soon as I return. Riding horses over the moon bridge south,We follow the light to the road fork’s mouth;Arriving at last …
Read MoreSending Off a Lord to Guizhou, Demoted to a Magistrate
I don’t know the road to Guizhou, but still I send off a former lord Who’s set to travel a thousand miles across the cries of forest apes, To flutter about like a bird that flies throughout the great five lakes. The rulers know nothing, …
Read MoreSending Off Xing
Fate is a sword that swings by chance—I wonder where my brothers have gone.Wiping these tears that wet my sleeves,I comb my hair like a silken lawn.The earth is vulgar, vast, and wild,But Heaven is far, like the distant dawn.For who is spared from sickness …
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