Gotta admit--I didn't love it. This book is mostly introduction and annotations--probably less than 30% is poetry. And the poetry was the whole reason I got it.

Sure, the annotations, the lengthy explications, and the careful interpretation of unfamiliar idioms and allusions were useful, in a way. This is a primer in reading the poetry of these two men. For those studying their poetry, I would happily recommend this volume.

For the rest of us just wanting to read poetry and get lost in it, this one will annoy. Sure, I guess I could try re-reading it now, skipping all the extra text. I think I might do that, honestly, and see if I enjoy the translations more. Reading it as written feels more like listening to music on NPR, where you have a 3 minute song and then 10 minutes of discussion. Those proportions are all out of whack.

Ironically, the subtitle of this collection is simply "Poems," as if that's all you'll find here. I wish.

My purpose for reading poetry is to locate those poems or passages I connect with somehow. It's like hunting for easter eggs for me. I keep track of the ones I really liked and eventually copy them into a journal. In some collections, I find reason to genuinely connect with and return to a quarter or more of the poems. This collection: two. Just two. I don't know if it was all the notes on every side being a distraction or if the translations were not quite working for me or if the selection was skewed toward technically interesting poetry rather than human and accessible, but I didn't dig it.

And I wanted to.

Oh yeah. The translator frequently referred to Mao, kinda positively. I think maybe four times. The first time was forgivably odd, but each additional reference doubled and redoubled my disapproval. It soured the experience, honestly.

I'll put it aside and look at it again another day. Today I'm starting a different book. Here's to better luck!

Zero stars. The only way to appreciate this poetry is by knowing the biographies of the poets and the history of parts of China during their lifetime. For me, this makes it impossible to enjoy the poetry.

There are many footnotes to give you this history, but there are more footnotes than there are lines of poetry!!!

The translations of the poems are 5 stars. Arthur Cooper's introduction and notes, as an example of his personal writing style, where he uses, meandering and stuttering, phrases that, nested in commas, semicolons, (and parentheses) become hard to follow, are 3 stars.

I like the translations. I also found the introductory essay very helpful. Chinese being a very different language and its poetic tradition being completely distinct from the European, Cooper's explanation of some of the issues is important to understanding the issues. I've owned this book for going on forty years and been through it a number of times. When I was young I believed I should like Li Bai because he was so wild and free, but now that I've been much banged around, I greatly prefer Du Fu.

The owning of this delightful little book was completely due to the influence of my other wife, Serendipity.
Of course it has poems in it... but to add to the wonder is the analysis of such for those who have not encountered the multi layering and technical skill of Chinese poets. The addition of calligraphy, in a hand which complements the style of poem, as well as an introduction to how the characters are formed and how they evolved, is fascinating.
Both poets, Li Po and Tu Fu, are fascinating: the drunken revelry and exuberance of Li Po contrasts with the dryer and more thoughtful Tu Fu, and the styles of contrast, of imagery, of metaphor, of the use of back linking to past literary and mythological references is inspirational.
Worth reading and ruminating upon.

Penguin's compilation of the poetry of Li Po and Tu Fu isn't quite what it appears at first. It collects a healthy sampling of the two poets, but it's only a sampling: each poet is represented by about 50 pages worth of poems, with most of that space taken up with Arthur Cooper's voluminous annotations. And the first half of this book is a lengthy introduction by Cooper, covering not only the basics of these two poets, but is a good primer for Chinese poetry as a whole, ranging from early works like Songs of the South to poets of the T'ang dynasty.

On the whole, this is an interesting collection. It's a nice sampling of these two poets output, aided by Coopers notes and introduction, which helps even those who know next to nothing about Chinese poetry - myself included - get into these poems. Which brings up my main problem with this collection: there simply isn't enough of them! I found that once I was really getting into each of these poets, the well here ran dry. It'd be nice if there was more of their works and less of the little artistic, calligraphic flourishes included here. Maybe someone studying Chinese poetry would appreciate having Chinese script scattered throughout, but I don't think it adds much for the common reader.

Still, I enjoyed the bulk of this book. Recommended for those interested in Chinese poetry, especially if you don't have much of a foundation in it: the introduction itself is worth checking out for those curious in the genre.

There are two types of people who'd read classic poetry. One, those who simply love poetry for its beauty. Two, those who are interested in classic literature. For the first type, I have no comment; just read what you enjoy. This review is more for the second type, and by extension, those who want to gain better understanding of Asian culture.

Ancient China had huge influence in Asia, including Korea and Japan. Basho mentions Du Fu's poems in The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches--he doesn't even mention Du Fu's name, he just casually refers to one of the poems and the readers are expected to understand. Even today, we keep reading these old Chinese poems. Check Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Volume 8. In the manga, Yoshimune says "she" is not well-read and only knows Du Fu and Li Bai when it comes to Chinese poems, encouraging her children to do better than herself. The manga then refers to one of Du Fu's poems. Yeah, in a manga. That's how these classic poems remain familiar in Japan. (I'm not sure if the Chinese people today read them--after the Cultural Revolution, they seem to have little appreciation for their own heritage.)

As Yoshimune says, Du Fu and Li Bai are only basics. But then, it doesn't seem there are good anthologies of classic Chinese poems translated into English.

I read a handful of them in Japanese with annotations. Hopefully, this book from Penguin covers the most important poems such as 春望 (A Spring View; this is what Basho mentions).

Other Tang period poets worth reading: Wang Wei(his poem 送別 is mentioned in another vol of Ōoku: The Inner Chambers, Vol. 2, Du Mu, Bai Juyi . . . then there are poets who didn't leave many poems, but what few they left are great, like 張継 (Zhang Ji)'s 楓橋夜泊 and 劉希夷 (Liu Xiyi)'s 代悲白頭翁.

(Btw if you think this review is snobbish, sorry--Asian culture is very snobbish traditionally.)

A Penguin Classic. It has been on my to read forever and I finally got to it. These poets were devouted friends in China, AD 712 - AD 762. The book covers the lives and times of the poets with many poems. The poems had introductions of each poem of the spiritual, social and aesthetic background surrounding the poet and times. The language was also included including pronuciation of the language. It also included calligraphy.

Gotta love a poet who drinks wine... in a boat... and drowns.

Chinese Poets are better than many Japanese.

Maybe?

WHAT EVERY EDUCATED CITIZEN OF THE WORLD NEEDS TO KNOW IN THE 21ST CENTURY: INTRODUCTION TO THE IMMORTAL TANG DYNASTY POETS OF CHINA----LI BAI (LI PO), DU FU (TU FU), WANG WEI AND BAI JUYI-----THE MEETING OF THE BUDDHIST, TAOIST AND CONFUCIAN WORLDS-----FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS—-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF



The Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) is considered the "Golden Age" of Chinese poetry and a time of cultural ascendency when China was considered the pre-eminent civilization in the world. At its commencement Chang'an (modern Xian) its capital with over one million inhabitants was the largest city on the face of the Earth and a vibrant cosmopolitan cultural center at the Eastern end of the Eurasian "Silk Road" when Europe had declined into the fragmented "Dark Ages" of the post-Roman Empire feudal era and the "Islamic Golden Age" of the Abbasid Caliphate was just beginning to rise to rival it with the construction of its new and flourishing capital at Baghdad. China itself had suffered a similar fragmentation and decline with the fall of the Han Dynasty, equal in scope and splendor to the contemporaneous Roman Empire, but with the comparative difference that Tang China had acheived reunification while Europe remained disunited and had lost much of its Classical Greek and Roman heritage, only to be recovered with the Renaissance. Tang Dynasty China by contrast was in a condition of dynamic cultural growth and innovation, having both retained its Classical heritage of Confucianism and Taoism but also assimilated the new spiritual energy of the rise of Buddhism, at the same time the European world assimilated the spiritual influence of Christianity and the Muslim world that of Islam.

Into this context were born four men of poetic genius who in the Oriental world would come to occupy a place in World Literature comparable to the great names of Dante and Shakespeare: Li Bai (Li Po), Du Fu (Tu Fu), Wang Wei and Bai Juyi. All of these geniuses were influenced by the three great cultural heritages of China: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, just as Western writers such as Dante and Shakespeare were influenced by the three dominant Western Heritages of Greek Socratic rationalism, Roman law and social duty and Christian spirituality and moral cultivation. It was during the Tang Dynasty that Chinese culture became fully Buddhist, especially with the translations of Buddhist Scripture brough back from India by Xuanzong, the famous monk-traveller celebrated in the "Journey to the West." Each poet was influenced by all three heritages, but with perhaps one heritage on the ascendant in each man in accordance with his temperament and worldview, with Du Fu emphasizing the social conscience and duty of Confucianism in his poetry, Li Bai the free spirit and dynamic natural balances of Taoism, and Wang Wei and Bai Juyi emphasizing the Buddhist ethos of detachment from this world and overcoming desire in quest of spiritual enlightenment.



THE GLORIOUS TANG DYNASTY---HIGH POINT OF CHINESE CIVILIZATION


The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an, then the most populous city in the world, is generally regarded as a high point in Chinese civilization—equal to, or surpassing that of, the earlier Han Dynasty—a Second Golden Age of cosmopolitan culture. Its territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han Dynasty. In censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population at about 50 million people, rising by the 9th century to perhaps about 80 million people, though considerably reduced by the convulsions of the An Lu Shan Rebellion, making it the largest political entity in the world at the time, surpassing the earlier Han Dynasty's probable 60 million and the contemporaneous Abbasid Caliphate's probable 50 milliion and even rivaling the Roman Empire at its height, which at the time of Trajan in 117 AD was estimated at 88 million. Such massive populations, economic and cultural resources would not be matched until the rise of the nations and empires of the modern era.

With its large population and economic base, the dynasty was able to support a large proportion of its population devoted to cultural accompishments as well as a government, Civil Service administration, scholarly schools and examinations, and raise professional and conscripted armies of hundreds of thousands of troops to contend with nomadic powers in dominating Inner Asia and the lucrative trade routes along the Silk Road. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, and were indirectly controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang also exerted a powerful cultural influence over neighboring states such Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, with much of Japanese culture, government, literature and religion finding its model and origin in Tang Dynasty China.

In this global Medieval Era we can say with fairness that while Europe went into fragmentation and decline until the Renaissance the two pre-eminent centers of world civilization were Chang'an of the Tang Empire and Baghdad of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Islamic Golden Age. Two incidents characterize the interaction of these two Medieval "Superpowers," and also affected literary production of the age: The Battle of Talas and the An Lu Shan Rebellion. The Battle of Talas of 751 AD was the collision of the two expanding superpowers, the Tang and the Abbasid Muslims, which in the defeat of the Tang Empire's armies resulted first in the halt of its expansion along the Silk Road towards the Middle-East, and secondly, in the important transfer of Chinese paper-making technology through captured artisans from China to the Arabs, an important factor fueling the Islamic Golden Age and its literature. The An Lu Shan Rebellion, arising out of the doomed love affair of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong and the Imperial Concubine Yang Gui Fei disrupted all of China, perhaps causing the deaths of 20-30 million people, and affecting the personal lives and writings of all the poets including Li Bai, Wang Wei and Du Fu. It also was the occasion of the Abbasid Caliph sending 4000 cavalry troops to help the Tang Emperor suppress the rebellion, a force that permanently settled in China and became a catalyst for growth of the Muslim population in China and Muslim-Tang cultural interpenetration along the Silk Road. It also became the subject of the Tang poet Bai Juyi's immortal epic of the Emperor, the Rebellion and the tragic death of the beautiful Imperial Concubine, Yang Gui Fei in "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow."


THE COALESCING OF THE CONFUCIAN, TAOIST AND BUDDHIST WORLDS: THE PARABLE OF THE THREE VINEGAR TASTERS


The Parable of "The Three Vinegar Tasters" is a traditional subject in Chinese religious painting. and poetry. The allegorical composition depicts the three founders of China's major religious and philosophical traditions: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. The theme in the painting has been variously interpreted as affirming the harmony and unity of the three faiths and traditions of China or as favoring Taoism relative to the others.


The three sages of the tale are dipping their fingers in a vat of vinegar and tasting it; one man reacts with a sour expression, one reacts with a bitter expression, and one reacts with a sweet expression. The three men are Confucius, Buddha, and Lao Zi, respectively. Each man's expression represents the predominant attitude of his religion and ethos: Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules, ritual and restraint to correct the degeneration of the people; Buddhism saw life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering, slavery to desire and the false illusion of Maya; and Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state. Another interpretation of the painting is that, since the three men are gathered around one vat of vinegar, the "three teachings" are one.


CONFUCIANISM

Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules, social discipline and restraint to correct the degeneration of people; the present was out of step with a more "golden" past and that the government had no understanding of the way of the universe—the right response was to worship the ancestors, purify and support tradition, instil ethical understanding, and strengthen social and family bonds. Confucianism, being concerned with the outside world, thus viewed the "vinegar of life" as "adulterated wine" needing social cleansing.


BUDDHISM

Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who first pursued then rejected philosophy and asceticism before discovering enlightenment through meditation. He concluded that we are bound to the cycles of life and death because of tanha (desire, thirst, craving). During Buddha's first sermon he preached, "neither the extreme of indulgence nor the extremes of asceticism was acceptable as a way of life and that one should avoid extremes and seek to live in the Middle Way". "Thus the goal of basic Buddhist practice is not the immediate achievement of a state of "Nirvana" or bliss in some heaven but the extinguishing of tanha, or desire leading to fatal illusion. When tanha is extinguished, one is released from the cycle of life---birth, suffering, death, and rebirth---only then can one achieve Nirvana.

One interpretation is that Buddhism, being concerned with the self, viewed the vinegar as a polluter of the taster's body due to its extreme flavor. Another interpretation for the image is that Buddhism reports the facts are as they are, that vinegar is vinegar and isn't naturally sweet on the tongue. Trying to make it sweet is ignoring what it is, pretending it is sweet---living for illusion or Maya---is denying what it is, while the equally harmful opposite is being overly disturbed by the sourness. Detachment, reason and moderation are thus required.

TAOISM

Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state.
From the Taoist point of view, sourness and bitterness come from the interfering and unappreciative mind. Life itself, when understood and utilized for what it is, is sweet, despite its occasional sourness and bitterness. In "The Vinegar Tasters" Lao Zi's (Lao Tzu) expression is sweet because of how the religious teachings of Taoism view the world. Every natural thing is intrinsically good as long as it remains true to its nature. This perspective allows Lao Zi to experience the taste of vinegar without judging it, knowing that nature will restore its own balance transcending any extreme, via Yin and Yang and "The Dao," the underlying Supreme Creative Dialectic driving all things and human experiences.




LI BAI (LI PO), SUPREME TANG DYNASTY LYRICIST AND TAOIST ADEPT




Li Bai (701-762) came from an obscure, possibly Turkish background and unlike other Tang poets did not attempt to take the Imperial Examination to become a scholar-official. He was infamous for his exuberant drunkenness, hard partying and "bad boy" romantic lifestyle. In his writing he chose freer forms closer to the folk songs and natural voice, though laced with playful fancy, as in the famous example of his lyric conversations with the moon. He frequented Taoist temples and echoed the Taoist embrace of the natural human emotions and feelings; that connection got him an appointment to the Imperial Court, but his misbehaviour soon ended in his dismissal. Nonetheless, he became famous and invited into the best circles to recite his works. He emphasized spontanaeity and freedom of expression in his works, yet created works of extraordinary depth of feeling:


Drinking Alone With the Moon

A pot of wine amoung the flowers.
I drink alone, no friend with me.
I raise my cup to invite the moon.
He and my shadow and I make three.

The moon does not know how to drink;
My shadow mimes my capering;
But I'll make merry with them both---
And soon enough it will be Spring.

I sing--the moon moves to and fro.
I dance--my shadow leaps and sways.
Still sober, we exchange our joys.
Drunk--and we'll go our separate ways.

Let's pledge---beyond human ties---to be friends,
And meet where the Silver River ends.



Popular legend has it that Li Bai died in such a drunken fit, carousing alone on a boat on a like, when he, drunk, leaned overboard to embrace the reflecion of the moon in the waters, and drowned.



DU FU---SUPREME POET OF SOCIAL CONSCIENCE AND ENLIGHTENED CONFUCIAN SPIRIT


Du Fu (712-770) was the grandson of a famous court poet, and took the Imperial Examination twice, but faied both times. His talent for poetry became known to the emperor, however, who arranged a special examination to allow his admittance as a court scholar-official. His outspoken social conscience, denunciation of injustice and insistence on following the pure ideals of Confucianism however, alienated higher officials and his career was confined to minor posts in remote provinces, and his travels and observations were often the occasion of his poetry. He acutely rendered human suffering, particularly of the common people, and his stylistic complexity and excellence made him the "poet's poet" as well as the "people's poet" for centures, as exemplified in his famous "Ballad of the Army Carts:"


Ballad of the Army Carts


Carts rattle and squeak,
Horses snort and neigh---
Bows and arrows at their waists, the conscripts march away.
Fathers, mothers, children, wives run to say good-bye.
The Xianyang Bridge in clouds of dust is hidden from the eye.
They tug at them and stamp their feet, weep, and obstruct their way.
The weeping rises to the sky.
Along the road a passer-by
Questions the conscripts. They reply:

They mobilize us constantly. Sent northwards at fifteen
To guard the River, we were forced once more to volunteer,
Though we are forty now, to man the western front this year.
The headman tied our headcloths for us when we first left here.
We came back white-haired---to be sent again to the frontier.
Those frontier posts could fill the sea with the blood of those who've died.
In county after county to the east, Sir, don't you know,
In villiage after villiage only thorns and brambles grow.
Even if there's a sturdy wife to wield the plough and hoe,
The borders of the fields have merged, you can't tell east from west.
It's worse still for the men from Qin, as fighters they're the best--
And so, like chickens or like dogs they're driven to and fro.

Though you are kind enough to ask,
Dare we complain about our task?
Take, Sir, this winter. In Guanxi
The troops have not yet been set free.
The district officers come to press
The land tax from us nonetheless.
But, Sir, how can we possibly pay?
Having a son's a curse today.
Far better to have daughters, get them married---
A son will lie lost in the grass, unburied.
Why, Sir, on distant Qinghai shore
The bleached ungathered bones lie year on year.
New ghosts complain, and those who died before
Weep in the wet gray sky and haunt the ear.




WANG WEI--SCHOLAR-OFFICIAL, "RENAISSANCE MAN" AND BUDDHIST POET



Wang Wei was one of the most prominent poets of the Tang Dynasty, but also a famous painter, calligrapher and musician. He hailed from a distinguished scholar family, passed the highest Imperial Examination with honors and worked his way up the bureaucratic heirarchy, often assuming posts in far-away provinces. His poems displayed the high court poetic style--witty, urbane and impersonal, reinforced by the Buddhist detachment and equanimity of his religious beliefs. He became influential at the royal court until being captured in the An Lu Shan Rebellion, he was forced to work for the usurping Emperor, then punished by the reinstated Emperor. In accordance with Chan (Zen) Buddhism his work reflects the detached and melancholy view of transitory life seen as illusion. His official travels involving years of absence or threatened death far from home were often the occasion of many of of his poems:


Farewell to Yuan the Second on His Mission to Anxi

In Wei City mornibng rain dampens the light dust.
By the travelers' lodge, green upon green---the willows color is new.
I urge you to drink up yet another glass of wine:
Going west from Yang Pass, there are no old friends.





BAI JUYI (BO JUYI), AUTHOR OF THE "SONG OF EVERLASTING SORROW," TALE OF THE DOOMED LOVE OF THE EMPEROR XUANZONG AND THE BEAUTIFUL IMPERIAL CONCUBINE YANG GUI FEI




Bai Juyi (772-846) of a later generation from the other three poets, passed the Imperial Examination with honors and served in a variety of posts. He, like Du Fu, took seriously the Confucian mandate to employ poetry as vehicle for social and political protest against injustice. He also, like Bai Juyi, tried to simplify and make more natural and accessible his poetic voice, drawing closer to the people. His most immortal classic is the "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" which presents in verse the epic tragic tale of the great love affair between Emperor Xuanzong and his Imperial Concubine, Yang Gui Fei, reminiscent of the tragedy of Romeo an Juliet, which ended during the An Lu Shan Rebellion as the army accused her of distracting the Emperor from his duties and corruption and demanded her death. The poem relates how the Emperor sent a Taoist priest to find his dead lover in heaven and convey his devotion to her and her answer:

"Our souls belong together," she said, "like this gold and this shell--
Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely meet."
And she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him
Of vows which had been known only to their two hearts:
"On the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life,
We told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world
That we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one,
And to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree."...
Earth endures, heaven endures; sometime both shall end,
While this unending sorrow goes on and on forever.




SPIRITUS MUNDI AND CHINESE LITERATURE




My own work, Spiritus Mundi, the contemporary epic of social idealism featuring the struggle of global idealists to establish a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly for global democracy and to head off a threatened WWIII in the Middle-East also reflects the theme of the Confucian ethic that literature should contribute to social justice and public morality. Like Du Fu it abhors the waste, suffering, social irresponsibility and stupidity of war. Like Li Bai it celebrates the life of nature and human emotions, including sexuality. About a quarter of the novel is set in China, and one of its principal themes is a renewal of spirituality across the globe.
t

World Literature Forum invites you to check out the great Chinese Tang Dynasty poetic masterpieces of World Literature, and also the contemporary epic novel Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard. For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:


For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: http://worldliteratureandliterarycrit...


Robert Sheppard


Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author’s Blog: http://robertalexandersheppard.wordpr...
Spiritus Mundi on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CIGJFGO
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CGM8BZG


Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved

“Great men have a curious way of appearing in complementary pairs” – Kenneth Clark.

Li Po, perhaps better known as Li Bai, and Tu Fu, whose name is better Romanized as Du Fu, were two great poets of the Tang Dynasty in 8th century China.

Li Po was a rebel against conformity, a wanderer fond of wine and of spontaneous revelry in the moonlight. There is both an imagination and a loneliness to his work. Tu Fu was a traditionalist but also an innovator; his poetry has both the honesty and the subtlety often found in great art.

Tu Fu was clearly the “yang” to Li Po’s “yin”; Tu Fu the Confucian and Li Po theTaoist. The two met and respected one another, and in fact Tu Fu idolized the older poet.

One has to read the poems slowly and without distraction to be rewarded. Chinese is not a flowery language to begin with and I believe there is a bit lost in translation. Furthermore the translations in this edition are a bit dated and I’ve seen better in a collection from Whincup, which I’ll review later.

However, the overall ‘feel’ of this book is very nice – informative introduction, nice notes on the poems, and occasionally poems printed in both English and Chinese. It’s a great introduction to two great poets.

I extract three poems that resonated with me when I first read them long ago, and which still do as I read them today.


Quiet Night Thoughts (Li Po)
-----------------------
Before my bed
there is bright moonlight
So that is seems
like frost on the ground:

Lifting my head
I watch the bright moon,
Lowering my head,
I dream that I’m home.


Longing (Li Po)
------------
Sunlight begins to fade,
mist fills the flowers,
The moon as white as silk
weeps and cannot sleep,

Chao zither’s Phoenix frets
no more shall I touch,
Shu lute’s Mandarin Duck strings
I’ll sound instead:

This song has a meaning
that no one can tell,
It follows the Spring wind
as far as Yen-jan

To you far, far away
beyond the blue sky –

Whom once I gave
A sideways glance
With eyes that now
Are wells of tears –

If you do not believe
that my heart breaks,
Come back and look with me
into this glass!


Nine Thoughts Afloat (Tu Fu)
-----------------------
By bent grasses
in a gentle wind
Under straight mast
I’m alone tonight,

And the stars hang
above the broad plain
But moon’s afloat
in this Great River:

Oh, where’s my name
among the poet’s?
Official rank?
‘Retired for ill-health.’

Drifting, drifting,
what am I more than
A single gull
Between sky and earth?