Cicadas Yu Shinan (558-638) He dangles down to drink the clear light dew,Exuding sound through the green leaf brush;And flowing far and wide, his voice flies onWithout the need of wind from autumn’s rush. Chinese 蟬虞世南 垂緌飲清露流響出疏桐居高聲自遠非是藉秋風 Pronunciation ChánYú Shìnán Chuí suí yǐn qīng lùLiú xiǎng chū shū tóngJū gāo …
Read MoreA Man with Crumbs
A tree top twig Beneath the empty skyI look among The world’s connected stringsFrom a lofty view That’s twenty stories highIt’s here I see The flutters filled with wings This morning’s hush As Hudson’s sparkle comesAround it flows With autumn’s remnant leavesThe pigeon sky Above the …
Read MoreNew York Harbor
Leaf and flower Have fallen in the windA petal gone The ocean never endsThe sea mist comes An unexpected guestAs even now The gray moon lingers westWhat little air Has blown with pure scentMy father gone The door from which he wentAs dust is dry …
Read MorePlum Garden
For Boris and Miona They find a garden lush with plum-air scents As spring sun filters through the dew-dust leaves And subtle sighs arise while fruit ferments, For Eden enters Earth when minds conceive. Within the garden deep an oak tree grows, Preserving plum and …
Read MoreAnchored at Jiande River
Meng Haoran This anchored boat’s astir in fog and breeze,As sunset rends my fears up once again,But as the sky descends beneath the trees,The river, moon, and quiet become my friends. Chinese Pronunciation 宿建德江 Sù jiàn dé jiāng 移舟泊煙渚， Yí zhōu …
Read MoreVenice, California
I sit and watch the waters flowing by Before the flower gardens seen by all: A place like this you’re free to loosen ties And break the empty shell of sudden squalls. Back home the path unwinds a thousand links Of men and women full …
Read MoreA Country Road
The moon has shadowed me, like stillborn air Along a country road, adrift in threads, Behind a worn out wheel, the pedals bare, As time leaves nothing here but cast off dead. I share these words with clouds in wind-washed treads, Where rock-strewn shores in …
Read MoreMiscellaneous Verse
You who’ve come and seen my hometown hueWould know the news from there, I must presume:That day you left, outside the window view,Had winter’s plums begun to wear their bloom? Chinese Pronunciation 雜詩 Zá Shī 君自故鄉來， Jūn zì gù xiāng lái， …
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 MoreBamboo Retreat
Alone, I sit serene within a bamboo grove,At ease, I strum the lute and hum a song.Unknown into the forest deep I’ll roveUntil the shining moon has sung along. Chinese 竹里館 獨坐幽篁裡，彈琴復長嘯。深林人不知，明月來相照。 Pronunciation Zhú Lǐ Guǎn Dú zuò yōu huáng lǐ，Dàn qín fù cháng xiào。Shēn lín rén bù zhī，Míng yuè lái …
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