Tang Fragments

Zhang Jiuling's THOUGHTS I

A sole swan from the sea flies,
No clothes invite pointing fingers -

High climbers roam the limitless sky.


Zhang Jiuling - ORCHID AND ORANGE I

Will you think that a forest-hermit,
Well content with beauty,
Would be inferior to a flowering orchid?


Zhang Jiuling - THOUGHTS III

The hermit in his lone abode
Nurses his thoughts cleansed of care.
Only vain and ill people are not moved by sincerity,
And prayer is for keeping sincerity too.


With Li Bai - DOWN THE EMBLA MOUNTAIN TO THE KIND PILLOW AND BOWL

Down the mountain in the evening,
Moonlight my homeward escort.
I was passing a farm-house of a friend,
When children called -
Vines that gladly caught and held my clothes.

Drink with my friend the wind in the pines;
The stars went down, and some went up.


With Li Bai - THINKING ALONG WITH THE MOON

The moon was unable to drink
And for a while I had this friend.
To cheer me I sang. The moon encouraged me so.
We were such companions, the moon and I.


With Li Bai - SWEET SPRING

I have prepared for returning home,
My heart is almost broken.
But not by the silk on my bed.


With Du Fu - FLYING HOME The Great Tweak was stirred by the Twin Forces
Balancing along I bared my breast
After the pattern of birds flying home.
Near the top the complete landscape may be taken on
In a few captivating glances.


With Du Fu - TO A RETIRED ALLY

Tonight is a rare event,
Fit for candlelights
Turning grey at the temples.
I have been on my way, you could say.


With Du Fu - ALONE IN HER GOSSIP

Who is barer than a vacant valley from a robust family
Humbled so greatly that ducks walking and quacking side by side look better, talk better?


With Du Fu - SEEING BILLY IN A DREAM

You came to me last night in a dream,
Venturing so long a journey
Through forest greens
How could you lift your wings and use them?
I woke, wild and tossing.
There were dragons and riverbed monsters.


With Du Fu - AS REAL AND DENSE AS RUBBER

This cloud has drifted like a wanderer,
And as real as the rising into it,
You rubbed your white head
Something kept puzzling you.

Who says that the heavenly net never fails? It has brought you ill fortune, No more years of fame.


With Wang Wei - PARTING

Where are we going and why - Ask me no questions without end.


With Wang Wei - NO HERMITS IN CRISPIANITY

In Crispianity there should be no hermits;
That gave up at the Gate of Hell
Or the bosom friends.

Your purpose happened to fail,
Yet some can hear high music.


With Wang Wei - A GREEN STREAM - TO BE A WOMAN

I have sailed some River Misses born by rapids hums
Where the basis light grows dim and weeds are lush along the banks.
Doomed to cast fishing-nets without end.


With Wang Wei - SHEEP TRAILS THROUGH THE WOODS

Cattle and sheep trail home along
A rugged old man
That leans on a staff and thinks of his son or full wheat-ears,

The farmers, returning with hoes on their shoulders,
Hail a simple life by their works.


With Wang Wei - THE BEAUTIFUL SHE

Should we remain humbly at home?
Washing clothes in the evening?
No more powder in her face?
Wisdom-washed beside the well?


With Meng Haoran - ON AUTUMN CLIMBING

Wildgeese flow my heart.
Not so brisk and clear.
The ferry returns;
Come and meet me.
Dogs hate us.


With Meng Haoran - SUMMER THINKING

The mountain-light from the lake afar
Open my window and lie down a while.
I would play if I could.




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