GEMS OF CHINESE TERSE
-M* =mj *-fj t?_Ii go
?% 39 W iw MS
GEMS OP CHINESE VERSE
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE
BY
W. J. 13. FLETCHER
BRITISH CONSUL, HOIHOW
COMMERCIAL PRESS, LIMITED
SHANGHAI
1919
32.
PREFACE
What Keats said Chapman did for Homer is
what Fletcher has done for the Poetic Realm of
Old Cathay. There is a freshness and a surprise
in these lyric gems. They have been read with
keen joy. Having finished,
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken.
I am no Sinologue and cannot vouch for the
accuracy of the translations, but I know this is
true poetry. So well has the work been done that
I am sure thousands of readers of the Occident as
well as of the Orient will rejoice with me over the
production of this book of verse and there will be
calls for more from the author.
H. L. Hargrove (Ph.D.,Yale).
Kaifeng, April 1, 1918.
INTRODUCTION
It is not without diffidence that I bring before
the public this little collection of verses. A trans-
lation can never equal the original any closer
than paste can imitate the real gem : and this is
particularly true of poetry, wherein the cream
and essence of a language finds its highest and
most ethereal expression.
The flower we can draw ; to its coloring art
can approach : but who can delineate its scent ?
And thus it is with these translations.
I have usually followed closely the original
form of the poems, frequently keeping their meter,
but fear that I have lost much of their nuances
and fragile delicacy. But, indeed, the subject is a
difficult one ; and I shall be repaid for the labor
if the average foreign resident in China can glean
from my siftings some further insight into the
heart and feelings of the Chinese : if Chinese feel
that their masterpieces, even in copies, find inter-
est amongst their neighbors from far countries.
Sympathy is the bond of human union.
The following translations are all from the'
Chinese poetry of the T'ang Dynasty (618 to 905
li INTRODUCTION
A.D.) : and it is not a little creditable to Chinese
civilization that such refinement of thought should
be current at a period when the ancestors of Europe
kwere overrun by German barbarians, and the
Scotch had perhaps hardly abandoned cannibalism.
The poems are essentially sketches of Nature,
\vritten by true lovers of China's grand scenery,
amid ruins of famous dynasties and the memories
of immortal beauties. A strain of Buddhist mys-
ticism adds in places its longing for the Unseen,
the Unseeable. One finds in them the Sun, the
Moon, the Stars, and "the wind on the heath,
brother." There is no clatter, noise, steam, or
hurry the authors float in sailing sanpans, noise-
less save for the rippling beneath the prow,
through scenes peaceful and calm. The white
clouds pouring like icing down the mountain
sides : the gulls and herons gliding white against
the sky ; the low boom of a temple gong in some
tree-hidden glen; the quiet labors in the plains
below; the village smoke curling upward in the
temple of Nature as placidly as incense spirals
about some Buddha's knees all combine here to
form China's great ideal, great charm Peace.
The very poems on the subject of war dwell only
on its disgusts. There is no girding up of the
loins to slay, no enthusiasm for destruction ; no
INTRODUCTION 111
great greed for wealth or possessions; no social
distinctions of caste. There is just human life
portrayed in terms of Nature. For in the Chinese
language there are practically no abstract nouns,
and for such the Chinese has borrowed terms from
his one great Master Nature. Thus Love is
typified by Spring with its wealth of bursting
flowers and sweet stirrings of the sap; old age
growing upon us by Autumn with its falling
leaves and sere complexion. Such allegories I
have marked with capital letters, that the reader's
eye may catch them the sooner.
Let him, if he can, imitating the poets of old,
float quietly down the broad waters of the Yangtze,
through the scenery of the Min, or over the
rapids of the Cassia River ; let him in some lone
temple see the Moon rise over the tree-fringed
hills ; let him, like Manfred, seek the Iris of the
Waterfall ; or dream amid the relics of some fallen
town then will he know the value of the T'ang
poetry ; there will he find Peace.
TO LI PO AND TU FU
Li Po and Tu Fu, pardon that I come,
Lone Nature's pilgrim from a foreign shore,
With you across the misty hills to roam
And see the dragons carry you once more
To peaks aflame with sunset ; to adore
In Nature's shrine, as ye were wont of yore;
To see the Iris ride the torrent's foam,
And ruins where high mansions stood before,
The moonbeams glinting on the broken dome,
While some shrill flute the fallen time deplore.
Forgive the humble heart and feeble thought,
The faltering fingers that the echo wrought
Of your sweet woodland lore !
W. J. B. Fletcher.
Foochow, 1917.
CONTENTS
PAGE
POEMS BY Li Po (^ fi)
The Old Pavilion ( > aft) : ,. . 1
Return with Spring (^ Jgl) 2
Delights of the Palace (g $* ft *^) ,. . .... 4
On the Frontier (1) (^ T ft 3 ) . . 6
On the Frontier (2) (^ T ft 3 ) 7
Absence (? & ^ ^) . . 8
The Wife's Lament (5fc ) . . 9
The Crows That Caw by Night (^ ^ P) . . 10
Our Parting at Kinling Inn (^ ^ $f ^ ^ JgiJ) 11
Chang Liang (iR T 9 A M tt'H ^ JH) 13
he Feast of Life ($f ^ jg) 16
Ts'ung Shan (^ Ol A * Ol) - 18
Coming Down from Chung-nan (T %ffi lU ^
mm m A^SJB/.. ... 22
Hsi Shih's Wedding (J^ g ft) 23
The Huang Ho Lou (% | $ g 5 tS ^
Hg|) 24
The Moon Shines Everywhere (fgt /f^ ) . . 25
The Boating Party (it 7K ft) 25
Quitting Pod at Dawn (%L & Q ^ Jft) . . .. . 26
Kinling (^ R) , . 27
Mr. Yung's Secluded Retreat ($ & $ f$ K f|) 29
The Fallen Terrace (^ g g ") 31
Tung Shan Cave ( If ^ ill) 31
The Lover of Scenery (i| ^ fr ^ Uj) .. .. 32
Age's Rime (ft if ft) 32
11 CONTENTS
Or.
PAGE
Steps of Disappointment (3 pg 3) . . . . 33
Cattle Isle ( ft ^ fc ) 34
The Northern Hall (ft ft |fc ft JI& fe) > , 35
The Water Pavilion (^ M A 2fc 7jt 2f) . 36
Lost! (ff 2p D|)_ 38
To Ho Chien (^ ^ f pg f$ |g fjjij) 39
The Autumn Fan (@f ^ ^ ^) 41
A Fruitless Visit to the Priest of the Tai Tien
A River Melody (01 _b BT*) 44
The Return to Wen Chuan (j& ^ g) . . . . 45
1 To Have Loved and Lost " ( J8 ff ft) . . . . 46
" Soft Stillness and the Night Become the
Touches of Sweet Harmony" (^^^-^fe
Mffi) ... 47
POEMS BY Tu Fu (tt
The Reinforcements (& ffi &) ........ 49
To Wei Pa of That Ilk (|t ffi A $1 ) . . . . 52
Hsi Shih (ffi J Uc) ....... . .. .. 54
Ch'in Chou (% >ft\ ^ ^ - "t) ........ 56
Unable to Visit Judge Wang Owing to Rain
zi^Nt) ................ 58
The Runners of Shin Hao (An incident of civil
war) Q5 S0 . . . . ........ 61
The Lost Beauty (f A) .......... 64
A Farewell (jfc JL * ) ...... . . . . 66
The Chariots Go Forth to War (J ^ ff ) . . 69
CONTENTS iil
PACK
The River's Brim (^ fll g|) ... . . . . . . 72
Homesickness (| 49) .'. i. ., 74
T ; aiShan (g ^) . . .. .... .. .. .. 75
Duke Wu's Temple (^ ^ fljf) > ., 76
The Music of the Spheres (|g $ J$p) . . . . 77
X / Thoughts of Home (^ >ft) 78
The Crescent Moon (%] ft ) 79
To the Moon (/|) 80
The Tatar Horse (J ^ W iK ^1) - - 81
Pounding the Clothes ($| #0 82
The Harvest Moon (15th of 8th moon) (A H
The Waning Moon (16th of 8th moon) (-f- 7^
The Fading Moon (17th of 8th moon) (-f- ^
The Setting Sun (^ H ) 86
The Pillar of the South (jg ^ ^jc fjjk ^\ JBf |& j^
A Boating Party (R ^ ^ <JV 1r it A ^ ^1 2
An Autumn View (^ g|) 89
Yo-yang Tower (3 -fir 181 feO 90
Snow at Changsha (^ If:) 92
A Farewell Ode (g jt) . . , 93
The Passing Shower (life Hj|) . . 94
The Kindly Rain (^ ^ ^ M) 95
The Geese Return (M* M) 96
Dawn (l& 1) , 97
My Reflection by Night ( jfc ^ * ^ op
IV CONTENTS
The Pair of Swallows (;
The Hall of Harps (^
The Temple to Yii ( $
The Imperial Tombs (in M)
The Mocking Bird (If fr)
Thinking of My Brothers on a Moonlight Night
The Bride's Lament (ff $g Jglj) ..... . . . 110
Chiang Tsun (^ tt) ..... ....... H3
The Firefly (H ^c) .. .. ........ 115
Yii HwaGung (^ ^ g) .......... 117
The Milky Way (^ M) .......... 119
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
Wang Wei ( )
Flower Love (i^^) .......... 120
Life's Road (g Jgl] ^B ^) . ....... 121
To-day (ia) ............ 121
A Silent Night (& JUJ) ..... ' ..... 122.
The Form of the Deer (H ^) ........ 123
The Moon (ft ^ fit?) ............ 123
The Hunt (fa ) ............ 124
Hsiang Chi Temple (j ^^) ...... 325
Chung-nan Hill ( ft |i|) .......... 127
My Villa at Chung-nan ( jj& $j #J H ) . . . . 129
" So Farewell. And if for Ever, Still for ever
Fare Ye Well." (38 JgiJ) ........ 130
Late Summer (Oi fg&m) ..... ..132
A Mountain Retreat g^X^fl .. ..133
CONTENTS V
PAGE
Meng Hao-jan
Waiting (fg #& ilj B) .......... 134
Springtide Dreams (^ BH) . . ...... 135
Crossing the Siang at Night (^ $ $B 7K) 136
Ch'iu Wei (flj )
On Jun Chou City Wall '(g P ffl $) 137
The Pear Tree by the Side Door ( ffc ^ 3) 138
^Ctfen Tse-ang (jSf? -J- ^)
Pereunt Etiain Ruinse (fij ^5^1^) ...... 139
Evening (g j) .............. 140
Chiu-hua Kuan in Spring (^ H ^ A ^P IS) 141
The Grass ($t) .............. 142
A Mist Sketch (^ j^ ^- ^ jg) ........ 143
The Pond (jfi _b) ........... ..144
Shen Cfruan-cfri (gfe & ij)
A Night on the Chi Pan Hills (: $g -fc jR $|) 145
The Old Retired Official (^ ^ ^ ^) . . . . 147
The Gorges of the Yangtze (35 tfj) . . . . . . 149
JFa- Chiang-ling (3E ^ f^)
" In the Spring " ( ^c) .......... 150
Chang Chiu-ling (%& ^L Sn)
Longing (g ^-^i &) ...... .. ..150
The Solitary (g j) ............ 151
The Waterfall (tt D fc Oi * tf *) '-- 152
Ts'en Ts l an (2$. ')
Carpe Horas (^: M ^ ^ * ) ...... 153
Desolation (^-^r US ^) .......... 154
ToTuFu (A H Wtt-fesS) ......
VI CONTENTS
<
PAGE
Wen Ting-hsiin
Recollection (ft @ ^ ) .......... 157
Sprigs of Willow (An allusion) (^ $$ ft) 158
Cte^- Chi (31 g|)
Anchored by Night (|ft ^ ^ |fi) ...... 159
The Retort Courteous ($[} Jif B^) ...... 161
Ssu tfung-shu (laj 5g HH)
A Village Scene (Q: ^f ip ^) ........ 162
HsiehNeng ($ fg)
The Song of the Willow Flowers (|fc $lp ^) . . 164
The Falling Leaf ( &) ........ 166
Chang Jo-hsii (5g ^ Ml)
Moon Thoughts (^ ff ^ J| ^) ...... 169
7Jr c / Tao-jung (^ !t Si)
Spring in the Harem (^ |g) ........ 171
Po Hsing-chien ( 3 ^f ^ )
Whence Comes the Spring ?(^t^H^^).. 173
Wang Chiang-ling (3E M Sfr)
The Neglected Beauty ( g ^ ^) . .* . . 174
Meng Hsiao (^ 5f|J)
Leave Me Not (- jgij m) ...... .. ..175
Ting Hsien-chih (T 'ftij ^)
An Invitation (^ *L B$ ^ |t ^ OJ A) . . 177
Li Shang-yin (^ ^f |M)
Hope (lfLj&) .............. ..178
Chang Chung-stir (3H fli ^)
The Spring (H ff ) .......... 179
7 S hen-yen (^fc ^f ^)
The Autumn Moon (fn i .^ j^ ^ ^) . . 180
CONTENTS Vll
PAGE
Wei CVeng-ctiing {% & JE)
Absence (& & ft g!) . - .... 181
Eheu Fugaces (flf ff JM H) ........ 181
< Chang-cVing (fiJ ^ it)
PiaoMu's Tomb (g g| -^ B) .. ..183
A Winter Scene (j @ ^ ^ ^ til) ...... 184
Wang Chien (3i j^)
The Autumn Festival (+551^^^) -.185
The Ancient Palace (ft If g) . . .... 186
Lou Ying (^ H)
Hsi Shih's Washing Stone (ffi Jfi ^) . . > 187
Chang Hsu (& M)
Peach Flower Cave ($&:$&) ........ 188
Disappointment (^^ b M^^E^^^fPii H) 189
Kiio-fu (M H)
FallaxPuer.(^ E) ........ 19
Yang Shih-ngo (^ i ^)
The Tower (^ *) ............ 191
Anchored at Night (ifi ^ ff ) . . . . . 192
Chao Ku (jfi jg)
Regrets (ft If * If) ............ 193
Liu Ting-cfri (fij ji ^)
The Brazen Tower (^ -t^ $) ........ 194
WangPiao (3E ^)
Your Garden Flower(A Serenade) (#ilJM*) 196
viii CONTENTS
PACS
Ch'ien CVi
An Autumn Night (#fr ~& & ^ j|) ...... 198
KaoShih (^ jg)
Moon Dream (ffC 2pg& ft) .......... 199
" None Shall Be Alone in His Appointed
Times " (5fc 4) ............ 200
C/* Kuang-i (M T HI)
Rustic Felicity ( ffl it $1 J&) ........ 202
Wu Pi (& )
The Amazon Corps (^ g |^ ^ A) . . . . 204
Tu Ku-yuan (^ JH jg)
The Pearl (Memoriam) (^ fc # iH) . . . . 206
Lo Pin-wang (j| H ^)
The Waters of E (^ xK ^ JSlJ) ...... . . 207
Ho Chih-chang (^ ^n ^)
Content ( ^ ft JglJ H) .......... 207
Zz^> Tsung-yuan ($$ ^ TC)
The Fisherman (ffe ^) '..- ........ 208
Wang Chi C HI)
The Debauch (ig Jg ^) .......... 209
Wang CVang-ling (3 H g^)
Beauty in Disgrace (g ^ j^ pj) ...... 210
Longing (t^^^f) ............ 211
The Pains of I^ove (^ ) .......... 212
The Fallen Garden ( Oj ^ ^ M) 213
CONTENTS IX
CVang Chien (% &)
Parting (g T 3t A?) .. ........ 214
The Hall of Silence (flfc Oj ^ & j| R) . . . . 216
JPiw^ Chih-huan ($!)
In Mongolia ($C WeSl) ...... 217
/(#)
The Flute That Wails by Night (^ _h ^ p $
H) ................ 218
Yan Kuei-fei in Disrace (g &) . . . - . . 219
The Dullness of the Harem (g 2g) ...... 220
The Ruined City <^ H H) ..... . . ..221
Tempus Eclax (J^ ;& ^) ...... > 222
The Wind of Autumn (ffc Jg, 3D 223
Wang Chih-huan (3i 81)
The Stork Tower (g f| ^ ^) ........ 223
Li Tuan (^ $5)
Desire ^ ff ^) .............. 224
Snow on Chung-nan Hills (^ ftf ^ ^ g) . . 225
Su's Pleasaunce (^ R JgiJ ^) . . .... . . 226
Tao Han (ffi ^)
Tien Chu Temple ($g^[^) ...... 229
Sung Chih-wen ($ . P5 )
The Maid I Met on Kuei-yang Bridge (|P ^ M
*faPi1f 5& A) .......... 2 ^1
Ts'uiHao (|g jgi)
The Huan Ho Lou (H H| &) ........ 233
X CONTENTS
PAGE
Yu Liang-shih (=^ & &)
The Hills of Spring (^ tij $ Jf ) . . .... 234
Cte^ Chun (3S J%)
The Autumn Seen from Yoyang Tower (-& P
^ B^ JH) ...... , ........ 236
Han Wit ($t ^)
A Ruin (^ & |i IS SI) . ,. ........ 237
A Lover's -Dream (# $H 8fc) ........ 237
Author Unknown
Lenore (^ ff) ...... ...... 240
GEMS OF CHINESE VEKSE
POEMS BY LI PO
THE OLD PAVILION
Where once the ancients said farewell
A sadness on the scene will dwell.
Where parted guests, the Moon is bright.
Our torrent bathes their hills in light.
The lake flowers bloom in sunny Spring.
The bamboos nightly Autumn sing.
Where Past and Now together met
Within my song shall linger yet.
a w 5c n
iii s sr * a
% & B& H
n tr 11 ^c
* * - a
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
RETURN WITH SPRING
Fine as the lines in verdant jade.
Upsprouts the grass of Yen.
Their growth long winter has delayed.
And thou, thou comest when?
The mulberries of Ch'in low droop
Their branches verdant with new leaves :
Waiting the picker's hand they stoop
As I await Ah, waiting grieves.
The spring is come. In thee the thought
Of home returning too should spring !
My heart is yearning. Not for nought
Is hope, nor bitterness to bring.
The East wind knows me not yet blows
Amidst my meshed curtains' gauze.
Is it for you the way it shows,
Not breathing aimless, lacking cause?
sfe E9
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POEMS BY 1,1 PO
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4 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
DELIGHTS OF THE PALACE
Born through the melted snows appear the blossoms of
the plum ;
And to the tender willow leaves the vernal breezes come.
Within the halls the orioles with joy delirious sing,
As from the eaves the swallows greet each home
returning wing,
With closing of the evening dim the festal flares with
light,
Where to the whirling dancers limbs fresh flowers add
beauty bright.
Before the shadows of the night the solemn guards
retire ;
And all the lovely scene dissolves in satisfied desire.
The fragrant breeze is pleasant in the pictured silken
doors*
The glow of dawn is sweet and fresh across the
window's gauze.
The flowers press up their happy cheeks the beaming
sun to view.
While by the shady lake each leaf the spring is gloss-
ing new.
Amidst the verdant trees I hear the birds their carols
sing,
As o'er the harem's floor the maids' light steps in
dances ring.
* Doors and windows are often made of painted gauze.
POEMS BY 1,1 PO 5
The plum, the peach-flower, moon unite the consort's
bower to grace;
And in each silken robe dissolved their colours find a
place.
The colour of the willow trees is soft as pliant gold.
The pear-trees, too, their fragrant flowers in snowwhite
bloom unfold.
This stately mansion holds a nest to suit the halcyon
bright.
Within its lordly halls the birds of love their hearts
unite.
A chosen bevy serve about the prince's carven chair,
And fill when bid the thrilling room with song and
music rare.
But should you ask, preferred of all who rules this
proud array,
I'd answer that in Chaoyang Court supreme is Fei-yen's
sway.
6 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
ON THE FRONTIER
' Tis June and still on Altai there lies the bitter snow.
Amid the chill of winter no happy flowers grow.
Although the wailing flute may sing " The Willow of
the Spring,"
The colour of the vernal leaves this place can never
know.
The kettledrum at daylight calls forth to war's array.
In midnight sleep our saddles we dare not put away.
This cursed tyrant Lou-Ian who us to death would
bring,
With this good blade within my belt how gladly would
I slay!
T
ra
U4
& m
m
r
Note : I/5U Laii who had made himself hated for his cruelty
assassinated when drunk by three men.
POEMS BY 1,1 PO
ON THE FRONTIER
The pillagers the autumn brings down to loot the land.
From homes celestial gather our armies band by band.
^L
The leaders split their tallies to make war's orders yare.
The warriors sink to slumber on coils of drifted sand.
The very Moon of Heaven is bended like a bow.
Upon our swords Mongolian frosts their silver tracery
sow.
The time is long ere we at last within the Wall shall
fare.
Ah ! sigh not, little wife of mine, so mournfully and
low.
& e
as. ii m * A
Note: Tallies flat wooden sticks, made in duplicate, and serv-
ing as a visual proof of the trust to be placed in the messenger who
bears the one half, the other half of which the recipient holds.
^ yare an old English word meaning " ready."
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
ABSENCE
Our slender Moon in quiet wanes away.
Around me dully thuds the washing bar :
Nor drops the Wind long Autumn from its wings.
While all my heart is at the frontier far.
Ah ! when will all our foes be beaten back,
And my dear husband finish distant war?
& 2. M fit
H *J! )*
r tnl >-4. > .
A H 5& ffi
Note : The poem refers to the wars along the Great Wall against
; . . >
the Tatars.' tv'^ * -**-* ^^ "-* r )' ft . ^K>vxA*<U'
POEMS BY 1,1 PO
THE WIFE'S LAMENT
On Yen-chih Hill the sere leaves quit the tree.
This tower I mount to gaze abroad for thee.
The sea's white clouds are broken on'the hill,
As Autumn grows in loneness over me.
In Gobi's waste the Mongol hordes prevail.
Back to the Wall the sons of China trail.
The guest of battle there his blood shall spill.
Ah me ! snapped orchid with my lonely wail !
EH
e
Notes : JIL-T^
^ & IS / &
1 3 R9
^ Si IS H
3iii JtS -^F* ym
name of Inner Mongolia.
orchid.
snapped.
10 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE CROWS THAT CAW BY NIGHT
Through dusty clouds beside the Wall the crows come
home so late.
And cawing -fly from bough to bough as each one seeks
her mate.
The lonely wife was working her silken tapestry:
Her window gauze seems mist to her ; their cawing
words of Fate.
Her shuttle stops ; she sadly dreams of her dear
absentee.
Her dripping tears confess she feels the house how
desolate.
n
it A
in S
Notes : ^ )\] is at ^ ^f in Shensi.
* ^ J'l ic is the wife of H JS wlio leaving his wife went
with his concubine to dwell at Hsiang-yang. In his absence so pro-
longed his wife worked a beautiful tapestry having a border embroid-
ered with over 200 poems, and sent it to Tou, who was so pleased
with her untiring industry that he at once sent to fetch her to
Hsiang-yang.
Crows caw at night when they miss their mate.
"Res unde humanas, sed summa per otia, spectat."
Cornicula V. Bourne.
The Wall is the city wall.
POEMS BY LI PO 11
OUR PARTING AT KINLING INN
With incense from the willow flowers the zephyr fills
the inn.
A rustic beauty baits the wine and tempts the guests
to taste.
All Kinling friends come hither to speed each other
haste :
Those leaving and those staying all make the goblets
spin.
Now prithee ask the River that ever eastward flows,
If any parting constant as his he ever knows ?
ja BJC m it as js &.
ft JE is s #*'
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^ IT ^ ^T = IS M
iff g n ra JK * *
JS'J it H -i Ift M & .
The River, i.e. Time.
A rustic beauty : an allusion to Hsi Slaih. ,
"Sad souls are slain in merry company."
The Rape of L,uqrece, V. 159.
^Cv /v ^ 1
/
12
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
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ft * *B
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POEMS BY LI PO 13
CHANG LIANG hJ^
Before your tiger roar was heard
Your house was sold, a home uo more.
But still by failure undeterred
You sought along the Purple Shore,
Until a bravo stout you found
At Po-lang Sands to smite to ground
The tyrant Ch'in.
Though to avenge the Hans you failed,
Beneath that stroke the Empire reeled.
You then in P'ei your traces veiled,
Where for long years you lay concealed.
If neither craft nor valour might
The conflict win for Freedom's right.
Not thine the sin !
I come upon the bridge of Ee
Dreaming old dreams of long ago,
Admiring your nobility :
But only see the waters flow !
Still green beneath the Bridge they race.
"Him of the Yellow Stone no trace
Has left to me !
Sighing I say : This man no more
Nor Hsu nor Ssu to-day can show.
Now He is gone-how desolate
The barren shore ! *'
14 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
Notes : P'ei : formerly a State forming part of Lu (fj) ; now in
Hsu Choa district in Kiangsu, 140 miles west of Huaianfu. In the
' Han dynasty it was in the Tung-hai district (_#> *j$ SB).
Chang Liang : This story is taken by Li Po from the History,
which says :
Chang Liang was a man of Han ($). When Han was de-
stroyed by Ch'in Shih Huang, Liang devoted his private possessions
to hire an assassin to kill the usurper. The assassin provided a mace
of 120 catties weight; and when Ch'in Shih Huang (B. C. 221-209)
was on tour, an attempt was made to slay him at Po-lang Sands ; but
the stroke hit his charioteer. The Emperor was greatly enraged and
made diligent search for Chang, who changed his name and hid
himself in P'ei (JB). As Chang was one day strolling on the bridge
there, he met on old man in a thin wrapper who dropped his shoe
under the bridge. Chang went to recover it for him, and presented
it to him kneeling. The old man said : " A good son can be taught.
Meet me here in five days' time." Five days later Chang went there;
and the old man meeting him gave him a book, saying, " Read
this, and you will become a teacher of Princes." " You will see me
again thirteen years hence in the shape of a Yellow stone under
the hill at Ku-ch'eng/' The old man then disappeared. The book
given to Chang he found to be the Military Strategy of T'ai Kung.
In the sixth year of Han ($[ B. C. 200) Chang Liang was appointed
ruler of his former state Han (f^) .
One day when Chang Liang was following Kao Ti (first Emperor
of the Great Han (g|) Dynasty who reigned B. C. 206-194) across the
Bridge he saw a yellow stone under the hill at Ku-ch'eng ; he took
it home, and treated it as divine. When he died it was buried with
him.
Po-lang Sands is in Yang-wu District (E& j& jgfc;.
Hsu and Ssu : The River Ssu rises in the South-west of ($0 & f>
Ssu- shui District in Shantung and passes by (ffeftl) Hsu Chou, then
turning South-east crosses P'ei Chou, entering Huai-au (^ ).
POEMS BY LI PO
15
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16 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
Seest thou not the Yellow River coming from the Sky,
Downward to the Ocean flowing, never turning back?
How thy hair to grey is growing, sadly MI yon mirror
spy-
Snow at eve that but this morning showed so glossy
black!
Would you taste this life so fleeting, quickly snatch at
every boon,
Leaving not the Golden Goblet glinting empty to the
Moon.
Heaven has given me these talents ; yea, and gave them
not in vain.
Lo ! a thousand golden ducats lavished greet the world
again !
These roasted Sheep and Oxen slain for Someone make
a feast.
Our Meeting here shall swallow down three hundred
cups at least.
Now, friends, the Wine is ready : I prithee no delay.
Incline your ears to listen while I sing to you a lay.
" Of music and dainties small reck do I make.
My bliss to be Drunken, ne'er Sober to wake.
The sages of old have scarce left us a name,
The Deep Drinkers only recorded by fame.
When Ch'en Wang of old gave his feast at Pinglor,
A gallon of wine each aroused their acclaim.
The Host shall ne'er say that too small is his store,
But buy the Good Vintage and lavishly pour.
This gallant bay charger and fuf coat of mine,
Now let the boy take them and change them for wine.
The Cares of the Ages, though many and sore,
Away will we scatter, and know them no more."
POEMS BY 1,1 PO 17
Note : It is sometimes objected to Li Po that he is too fond of
the wine cup, and, 'like Byron, his reputation suffers from the pre-
judice of those who have not read him. Of all the poems of his
which have come under my notice, this alone appears to be in praise
of materialism. But who can read this poem without perceiving the
mystic allusion of it ? Here is the same spirit which we find ia
Omar Khayyam-
"My bliss fo be drunken "......cf. Moore's "Odes of Anacreon "
No. 50.
" When I drink, I feel, I feel,
Visions of poetic zeal."
300 cups : One of those historical allusions in which Li Po
delights. Yuan Shao (g WO gave a dinner to Cheng Yuan (fH> 7C)
and tned his best to make the latter intoxicated. The three hundred
guests at the feast arose in turn to drink a cup of wine with him.
From dawn till evening Yuan drank over 300 cups- without his face
being flushed.
Golden Goblet:
" Ah, broken is the golden bowl!
The spirit flown for ever!
Let the bell toll ! a saintly soul
Floats on the Stygian river. "
Foe's Lenore.
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
TS'UNG SHAN
Where a slip of moon aye shines
Eastward over the pines
Where the torrents speak,
A mansion of eld have I
'Tis Ts'ung-yang's Maiden Peak,
If magic herbs to find
You wander thither mind
The rosy shoots of the flags !
Should we each other seek
In life's low eventide,
A dragon white I'll ride
To yonder sun-lit crags.
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POEMS BY 1,1 PO 19
Notes : Ts'ung Shaft, 10 li north of Teng-feng Hsien in Honan
is the central peak of the FiyeSacred Mountains ; which are :
Eastern Peak : or Tai Shan : in Shantung. ^ ill
Southern Peak or Heng Shan in Hunan. $f tlj
Western Peak or Hua Shan in Shensi. Ip lU *
Northern Peak or Heng Shan in Qhihli. t& Ul
Central Peak or Ts'ung Shan in Honan. H lU
The Maiden Peak: a pinnacle on Ts'ung Shan, also called "The
Pure Maid's Washing Stone." On the day before the (J5t $0 incep-
tion-of Autumn a sound of pounding can be heard there.
Flags: calamus: together with artemisia charms are hung on
doors at the Dragon Festival (5th day of 5th moon) as a rush sword
to keep away evil spirits. ("I see these witches are afraid of
swords." The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Sc. 4.) When Wu Ti of the
Han Dynasty (B.C. 140-86) ascended Ts'ung Shan he suddenly met
a fairy who said : "I come from the Chiu-I Hills in Shansi. Hearing
that on the rocks of the Central Peak are flags with nine knots to
the inch which when eaten confer immortality, I have come to seek
them. ' '
' Dragon white : Li Po compares himself to a spirit exiled from
his natural Heaven-Nature.
The Five Sacred Mountains appear to have been considered as
the points of conception of the T'ien Ti tsao-hua, interinfusion or
copulation of Heaven and Earth.
The worship of this conjunction of Heaven and Earth is evi-
dently similar to the rites of Isis and Osiris and the birth of Horus ;
Jupiter and Cybele. Ops and Rhoea, Mythra, etc. ; and is the parent
of all this class of tales from those of shepherd maidens found by
goblins (cf. Scott's Lady of V^<? Lake "She said no shepherd
sought her side, no hunter's hand her snood untied," etc.) to the
more serious religions based on a Heavenly Father and human
mother.
In the I/ama Temple in Peking is a group figure called T'ien Ti
tsao-hua, which exactly illustrates this Idea, and which is evidently
of very ancient derivation.
20 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSK
With these rites the ceremonies of the Dragon Festival have an
evident connection. Thus the Festival is called Tuan Yang ($g gg-)
i.e. a cessation of the male principle (of the sperm ingestion) and
commencement of the period of gestation (of the seeds) in the
womb of "Mother Earth."
It is possible that the Rain was considered as the spermatae of
this union, and that hence comes the Dragon Power of Waters.
The story of the seeking for a lost hero drowned in the waters
would appear to be a reminiscence of human sacrifice, in which the
"male" was, literally, either restrained from further connection
with the female after conception (as is still the practice of some
African tribes whence polygamy) or more probably I think, the
sending down of a "male " into the (female?) waters that his prin-
ciple may make them fertile when applied to the crops.
It is probable that human sacrifice in China, as elsewhere, was
replaced by offerings of the produce of the union (of Heaven and
Earth) " the firstborn of the flock" instead of offering an in-
centive to that union ; but of the exact symbolism attached to
*' flags" and " artemisia " I have no information.
POEMS BY LI PO
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22 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
COMING DOWN FROM CHUNG-NAN
The dusk descends along the verdant hills,
O'er which the Moon our footsteps follows back.
Gaze up ; and lo ! the path by which we came
Winds up the hill amid the greenwood track.
As hand in hand we reach the farmer's home
His lads to us the thorn-wove wicket ope.
The path o'erhung with bamboo sprays is dim.
Green creepers at the passer's clothing grope.
Gladly we say: " Here is a place to rest."
The goodly wine in waving circle goes.
Our songs extoll the sweet fir-laden air,
Till ere we cease each star but dimly glows.
Drunken am I and you with pleasure too
In pure enjoyment, free from human woes.
Note : The Nan Shih says : " T'ao had an especial fondness
for pine trees; which he planted in his court and garden. To hear
the stir of them in the breeze was pure enjoyment to him."
POEMS BY LI PO 23
HSI SHIH'S WEDDING
A Ballad
The crows fly back perching on Ku Su's high Tower ;
And flushing with Hsi Shih is Wu Wang's rich bower.
They sang and they danced and they merrymade still
When half of the sun sank behind the green hill.
In golden clepsydra the silver gauge showed
How long yet the night ere the shaded hours fly.
On the river's low ripples the clear Moonlight glowed.
But oh ! what delight when it mounted on high !
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: Ku Su, the residence of Wu Wang.
"Is there not a ballad, boy, of the King and the Beggar?"
Love's L/abour's Lost, Act 1, Sc. 2.
24 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
f
THE HUANG HO LOU
V
(A Farewell Ode to Meng Hao-jan)
You parted; leaving to the West the Huang Ho Lou,
The mists of Spring in floating veils descending on
Yangchou.
Adown the distance faded hence with thee yon lonely
sail
To where the mournful River's waves into the skyline
flow.
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Note: The Huang Ho Lou (Tower of the Yellow Crane) is to
the East of Yangchou, and as Meng is going to Yar.gchou he leaves
the Tower on the West.
The original Huang Ho Lou was destroyed by the Tai Ping
rebels during the siege of Wuchang.
A new, and ugly red brick building on the bank of the Yangtze
at Wuchang, built, I believe, by Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, marks its
former site.
Some of Meng Hao-jan's poems are given in this volume.
POEMS BY LI PO 25
THE MOON SHINES EVERYWHERE
Seeing the Moonbeams by my couch so bright,
I thought hoar frost had fallen in the night.
On the clear Moon I gazed with lifted eyes :
Then hid them full of home's sweet memories.
it
THE BOATING PARTY
The River clear the Autumn Moon so bright
We pluck the South Lake's bridal flowers white.
The maiden water lilies seem to speak :
And tinge with shame each boat borne wanton's cheek.
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Note: H : P'in 2 : Hydrocharis morsus=rance (frogbite), for-
merly used in bridal rites.
Y& : I/u, a river in Hunan.
"Their still waters still and chilly
With the snow of the lolling lily."
Poe : Dreamland.
26 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
QUITTING POTI AT DAWN
Poti amid its rainbow clouds we quitted with the dawn,
A thousand li in one day's space to Kiang-ling are
borne.
Ere yet the gibbon's howling along the banks was still
All through the cragged Gorge our skiff had fleeted
with the morn.
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Notes: Poti is a town in Szechuen. "The poet celebrates the
swift current of the Yangtze down the Gorges of Szechuen.
The constant reference to the gibbon in the Tang poems would
seem to imply that at that time China was much more wooded than
at present. So far as I know monkeys arc not common along the
Yangtze nowadays; but they may still be seen on the higher reaches
of the West River.
"
PO3MS BY 1,1 PO 27
KINUNG
Of Kingdoms six their state that raised
In turn upon each other's fall,
Libations three when I have made,
A lay I sing unto you all.
This garden that is left us now
Is smaller than the Chins' of yore.
These hills remind of.Loyang peaks,
Are like them, but in number more.
The flowers that long ago the Wus
Had planted by their ancient halls:
The silks and damasks that the Kins
Concealed within their Palace walls :
With all their human lovers gone
Are all extinct in long decay.
Old Time has washed them to the East
Amidst the Ocean's waves away.
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GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
Note : Kinling was founded by Wei Wang of Ch'u, and was the
capital of the following six successive States :
Wu (&ffi) A.D. 222-264.
Chin (W ) 265-419.
Sung ($* ) 420-477.
ch 'i (ft ) 479-501.
Liang (& ) 502-556.
Ch'en U* ) 557-58;.
Garden : The Princes of Ch/in had a garden called The Shang-
lin Yuan (_h #C ?g) which was 400 li (130 miles) in extent.
I/oyang : in Honan.
"For death eternal waits thee evermore.'
Not for a briefer space shall he be dead,
Whose light of life but yesterday hath fled,
Than he who perished years on years afore."
Lucretius (Salt).
POEMS BY LI PO 29
MR. YUNG'S SECLUDED RETREAT
With verdant heads the crowd of cliffs are brushing
the sky.
So aimless wandering here, one feels not the years go
by.
I burst through the Veiling Clouds in search of the
Ancient Way,
Or lean me against a tree while hearing the torrent's
play.
The warm Spring opens the flowers : the Fairy Ox lies
down.
The White Crane sleeps above on the lofty pine tree's
crown.
The River gleams with Twilight ; as now our speech is
done
Alone I cross the chilly mist descending with the sun.
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its a
30 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
Notes : Fairy Ox : Lao-tze, author of the Tao-te Ching (Path
of Righteousness), is said to have ridden in a cart drawn by a
duii ox to Ta-ch'in (:fc ^) (Syria). On Tsung Kao Hill (jg ^ Uj)
is a large pine tree. Every 100 or 1,000 years its juices are turned
into a Black Ox.
White Crane : Wang Tze-ch'iao (; ^ Sir) rode on a white crane
to the top of Hou-Shih Hill (& & Ui).
Both are types of Fairy Land, and the crane commonly repre-
sented as such in Chinese pictures. L/ao-tze riding a black ox is also
a common picture.
POKMS BY U PO
THE FALLEN TERRACE
31
Fresh elm and willow barely hide the garden terrace
bare.
The calthrop picker's singing thrills the clearer vernal
air.
But, ah! the Moon, that once beheld these Halls so
gaily thronged,
Upon the Western River shines, its sole companion
there.
m
A
TUNG SHAN CAVE
To Tung Shan Cave so long I have not been !
How often have its roses filled with bloom ?
Its silver clouds all pass away unseen.
Descends Diana there ? To visit whom ?
di
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Note: Halfway up Tung-shan, which is ten miles South East
of Ying-tien Fu s Nanking) , is the SFjgttgl Cave of the Cinnamon Roses.
32 GEMS OF CHINESE VKRSE
THE LOVER OF SCENERY
All the Birds had flown away.
One Cloud its aimless circle ran,
Unwearied gazing on each other,
It and Ching-ting Shan.
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Notes : Birds : the seekers of worldy pleasures and profit> who,
having obtained their desire, fly elsewhither.
One Cloud: the writer in his pure love of Nature compares
himself to the solitary cloud pouring unwearied on the hills.
Ching Ting Hill is in
AGE'S RIME
Ah me ! to make such length of grizzled hair
How many days it grew along with care!
Indeed, how could in this pure mirror show
The origin of so much Autumn snow ?
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Note : ^c ?S ft& was founded in 622 A.D.
POEMS BY U PO 33
THE STEPS OF DISAPPOINTMENT
The dew forms white upon the marble stair.
Our silken socks are damp ere night outwear.
Returning drop our crystal blinds to see
The Autumn Moon gleam through them glintingly.
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Notes : Crystal blinds were made apparently of beads or rods
of crystal strung together.
The Stair is that of the Emperor's private apartments up
which the favourites pass. The damsels of this poem have waited
in vain the Imperial summons to admit them, and return to their
chamber unable to sleep from disappointment. The sight of the
Autumn Moon reminds them of their being "Autumn *ans" no
longer required.
34 GEMS OF CHINESE VRRSK
CATTLE ISLE
' Tis night : and on the Western Stream here swims the
Cattle Isle.
No cloud to fleck the spotless sky that stretches mile
on mile.
Within my skiff I float away the Autumn Moon to view
fK &
In idle dreams orhim who raised to fame a poet new.
A lofty strain I too can lift. But what will that avail?
There is no patron now to hear my heart-string's sob-
bing wail.
Our matting sails we raise again to meet to-morrow's
sun,
As from the tree the maple leaves are dropping one by
one.
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Note: "On such a night as this 'M^eneral Hsich, called Con-
queror of the West, while patrolling near Cattle Isle heard the poet
Yuan Hsiung singing to the moon, and entered into conversation
\vith him. From this time Yuan's reputation began to grow.
POEMS BY LI PO 35
THE NORTHERN HAU,
A picture before me the city lies there.
Seen far from the hills in the dawning's bright air.
Clear mirrors two rivers have here their twin birth :
Two bridges like rainbows that pair on the earth.
In their orange and pumelo groves they are cold.
The leaves of the wu-tung with Autumn grow old.
Who cares that aloft on this Northern Tower I
Yet dream of the ancients the wind has borne by?
til
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Notes: The twin bridges are H, M, IS Feng-huang Ch'iao and
\8 J\\ ffi Chi-ch'uan Ch'iao : the two ^ g| rivers are the double Ch'i.
>il535Tlfc "When one wutung leaf falls, all
tne world knows that Autumn has come."
36
GEMS OF CHINESE VKRSE
THE WATER PAVILION
High through the rainbow air this chamber towering
see.
While intermingle around shadow and sunlight clear.
Splashing above the eves leap the waters of Yuan-ch'i.
On Ching-ting, cloudy hill, down from the windows
peer!
The gibbon's howl the sigh of the wind has led astray.
To the placid Moon above the songs of the fishers soar.
Free as the seagull sailing we seem to float away.
Am I not one of them there that flock on the sandy
shore ?
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POEMS BY 1,1 PO
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37
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38 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
LOST!
Upon the clouds I gaze and see thy vesture floating fair
Upon the flowers I gaze and lo ! thy cheek is kindling
there.
The zephyr brushing through the stoep thy footfall
seems to be.
The dew, so like thy freshness, brings the sense of loss
to me.
Our broken fates no hope attends.
But if on earth we meet no more,
Await me on that fairy shore
Behind whose clouds the moon ascends !
A moulded form whose smooth excess sweet fragrance
clung around.
A dream of rapture magical that made the pulses bound.
Pier equal in the Court of Han as yet had never been.
What new attire for Yang Kuei-fei to shroud her in the
ground ?
Mid happy flowers the loveliest still his Helen's beauty
rare:
How often had he smiled to see Her Fairest Flower
there !
This Breath of Balm to dissipate what boundless hate
arose !
The well-remembered arbour floods his heart with
scented care.
Notes: ' 'A dream of rapture magical:" literally "Clouds and rain
on WuShan:" referring to the dream of Huai Wang at Kao-tang that
he saw a lovely maiden who declared herself to be the Spirit of the Wu
Hill, walking on the clouds at morn and on the rain at night, with
wh-mi he became deeply impassioned "the nympholepsy of some
fond despair."
& "Happy flowers:" The peony is pure white at dawn; deep yellow
at evening; and dies at night with a most perfect scent."
POEMS BY LI PO
TO HO CHIEN
39
Though anxious office to resign and private garb
resume,
Your able craft and placid mind must long the Court 4
illume.
From Mao the Wondrous you received the true Ar-
cana's art.
A home by Tungting Lake His Grace now grants you
to assume.
The sky is full of stars; the mist enshrouds Mount
Yaotai tall.
From Wizard Peak high lost in space yon islands look
so small !
The Crane that from the Tree of Pearls ne'er loveth to
depart
Ah ! tell me when it next will fly across the City wall ?
<S<--~ W
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40 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
Notes: Ho Chien wished to retire to the Taoist's life; but as
he was reported to the Throne as being " Skilled in men and affairs,
and placid in disposition' ' permission to dispense with his services
was long refused.
Mao: Mao Meng, styled Ch'u-ch'eng, (5^^; Ifljjfc) or, as he
called himself, "The mad Wanderer of Ssu Ming, "retired into the
Hua Shan ('^ Ul) to practise Taoism. Having attained to the Path
of Taoism, he sang; "To the Golden Cave see the White Crane
soar. It conies again ah! nevermore," and mounted into the
clouds in broad daylight on the back of a dragon.
Tungting: When Huang Ti was travelling in Shu he scooped
out five lakes to hold water. Of these the Tungting Lake was one.
(Huang Ti is supposed to have reigned 2700 B.C.)
The Court: Chang-sheng Hall : "In the Court of Wu Ti of the
Han (g|) Dynasty (B. C. 140-86) was a famous singer called Li-
chuan (jg 51) The Lovely at whose song the pear trees would
blossom. On her singing the "Song of the Wind's Return" outside
the Chang sheng Hall, the leaves dropped from the trees in the
courtyard."
"The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony."
I/'allegro.
And see the legend of Orpheus, who made trees and stones to
move with his music.
The Triple Pearl Tree (H & &) grows on the Red Water in
.the land of Yen-huo or An-for (gR '/0
Ssu-ming Shan (0J $J ill) is 50 miles S. W. of Ningpo. On it
are four stone windows through which are seen The Sun, the Moon,
the Stars and the Planets; whence it is called "The Hill of the
Four Brightnesses."
In this poem L,i Po compares the retreat of Ho Chien to that of
Mao into the Hua Shan, and inquires, when he will, like Mao attain
to immortalitv.
POEMS BY LI PO 41
THE AUTUMN FAN
Before my hall sweet flowers perfume the calm and
silent night.
I wish to roll the blinds but, ah ! am checked by
Spring's despite.
Dimly, guitar beneath my arm, the glancing moon I
see.
The wavering colours of the trees obscure my lost
deliht.
&
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Note : This poem represents Yang Kuei Fei in disgrace.
42 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A FRUITLESS VISIT TO THE PRIEST OF
THE TAI TIEN HILLS
I hear the barking of the dogs amidst the waters sound.
The recent rain has washed each stain from all the
peach bloom round.
At times amid the thickest copse a timid deer is seen.
And to the breeze in sparkling seas the bamboos roll
in green.
From yonder verdant peak depends the sheeted water-
fall.
At noon's full prime I hear no chime of bells from
arboured hall.
Whither the wandering priest has gone is no one here
can tell.
Against a pine I sad recline, and let my heart o'er swell.
a
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POEMS BY LI PO
43
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44 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A RIVER MELODY
With cornel oars our skiff of mountain pear
Lightly glances o'er the lapping waters.
At the bow a flute of echo fair
At the stern a pipe's melodious air
Mingl'e with the song of Beauty's daughters.
Here are copious flasks of vintage rare.
Why then, would we quit this world of care,
Need we wait to mount some fairy crane ?
Free as seagulls float we o'er the waters
Idly floating on this shoreless main.
The songs of famous singers live as long
As sun and moon shall circle in the sky.
The halls of pride now strewn the hills along
Proclaim that every other fame shall die.
To such rapture even mighty mountains
Stir and sway their weighty bulk again.
In the fairy islands of the Blessed
Lives for ever each immortal strain.
But sooner could flow backward to its fountains
This stream, than wealth and honours can remain.
Note : " Mount some fairy crane " i. e. go to heaven.
c: One poor retiring minute in an age
Would purchase thee a thousand thousand friends."
The Rape of L,ucrece, V. 138.
POEMS BY LI PO
THE RETURN TO WEN CHUAN
45
Twelve leaders of the cohorts passed along
As ordered stars deck out the skirts of night.
Beneath the harvest moon there glittered bright
As frost the keen steel of the moving throng.
Like moonbeams draped o'er clouds the banners flew.
In awe respectful every door was snut.
Through boundless space the music sounded up.
The breath of perfect morn caresses blew
In wanton airs around our Prince the good and true.
ft ft jj
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46 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
"TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST'*
Last night the wind of spring laid bare the peach
flowers of the well.
Before the Palace soared the moon with radiance clear
but fell.
Within His room the actress maid his shifting love
had won.
Without the silken robe he gave could not the chill
dispel.
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is,
1 how this spring of love resembleth
The uncertain glory of an April day,
Which now shows all the beauty of the sun,
And by and by a cloud takes all away. "
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act I, Sc. 3.
POEMS BY LI PO 47
"SOFT STILLNESS AND THE NIGHT BECOME
THE TOUCHES OF SWEET HARMONY"
/
From what clear flute unseen these flying trills
With which the Wind of Spring the City fills?
Amid the strains the Flower is plucked anew
In what sweet Garden how my bosom thrills !
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GEMS OF CHINESE VERSS
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POEMS BY TU FU 49
THE REINFORCEMENTS
At dawn the camp I enter by Loyang's eastern gate.
At eve upon the floating bridge I stand to meditate
The rays of sunset glint upon the banner floating wide.
A shrilling wind and horses' neighs resound on every
side.
A myriad tents in ordered rows are set upon the sand,
The men each other hailing as each one quits his band.
In mid-sky high suspended the moon is sailing bright.
This discipline makes desolate the loneliness of night.
With wailings intermittently a mournful reed pipe
sobs.
Disheartened seem the warriors ; no breast with ardour
throbs.
Were some one now to ask me who may the General
be, ^
At random guessing I would say, some flaunting Ko
is he.
Notes : Reinforcements: In the 14th year of T'ien Pao (5^ ?)
(A. D. 742) there was a battle at (?^7JO Huang Shui where the
Chinese army was defeated, and these reinforcements had to be sent.
X Ko: Ko Ch'ii-ping (fHifc:|jlf> of the Han dynasty; a famous
General of cavalry, but an illegitimate son and a wild character. He
fought with success against the Tatars, and was called " Piao-yao"
from his able riding. See the " Wei Ch'ing Ko Ch'ii-ping Ch'uan."
/ On his tomb was sculptured an unsaddled charger trampling on
a fallen Tatar (Journal of the N. C. branch of the Royal Asiatic
^Society, 1917).
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POEMS BY TU FU
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52 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
TO WEI PA OF THAT ILK
Like stars that rarely see each other
In life we do not often meet.
What eve is this that brings us now together
Where these bright candles greet?
Our youth, our strength, alas! how soon depart!
Our beards, our hair are streaked with flecks of grey.
Of friends we visit, half have passed away:
The sudden news catches the thrilling heart.
How tell that twenty years would first be sped
Ere I again should enter in your Hall ?
For when I left you, you were still unwed.
Lo ! now your boys and girls are growing tall.
Their father's ancient friend with pleasure see,
And whence I hither came inquire of me.
Unfinished question and reply remain.
Your children come to set the broth and wine.
A turnip fresh cut after last night's rain,
And steaming rice so fine.
Then says the host : "When shall we meet once more ? "
With goblets ten he pledges me again.
Ten goblets leave me sober as before,
Sb deep my grateful memories him retain.
To-morrow by the cragged hills disparted,
Unconscious of each other widely parted !
Turnip : '' A turnip fresh cut after rain is most delicious " so
said the frugal ancients; who had not discovered by excess in
luxury the simple pleasures of a Sabine farm.
Cf : Virgil "Sunt miki castaneos molles" etc.
^ = Orion.
f8j = Lucifer.
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54- GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
^ HSI SHIH
As Beauty is of all the world admired,
Obscurity no longer her could hide.
That morn a maiden washing by the brook :
That eve a Prince's bride.
In humble state how different from the rest?
When Fortune came they noted her how rare.
Attendants then she had to tire her hair,
And aiding hands arranged her silken vest.
Her Lord's love sought to aid her beauty fair:
In her all flaw his tenderness would hide.
The comrades who were washing by her side
Might not attend her in her chariot there.
When she their busy offices declined,
They, that they could not frown like her, repined.
Note: Hsi Shih was a famous Beauty of antiquity. Originally
but a village maiden she was even then noted for her good looks, so
that it was said of her that even anger lent grace in her features; so
much so that an ugly neighbor attempted to frown as Hsi Shih did,
but with disastrous results, as her neighbors closed their doors in
terror.
" 1 frown upon him, yet he loves me still."
A Midsummer Night's Dream.
One day as Hsi Shih was washing clothes in the mountain
stream at Yii-lo Shan (*? $g tfj) the Prince of Wu passing by saw
her and exclaimed: "Beauty is admired of all the world," and took
her in marriage.
The reader will doubtless recall the tale of Cophetua in Tenny-
son.
"King Cophetua set eye upon the pernicious and indubitate
beggar Zenelophon."
Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, Sc. 1.
"Good sooth, she is
The Queen of curds and cream."
The Winters' Tale, Act IV, Sc. 4.
Various poems by Li Po and others on this subject, which are
attached, show how popular the tale was.
POEMS BY TV PU
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56 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
CH'IN CHOU
This temple to the north of Ch'in-chou walls
Is said to be the home of former kings.
About its age creep moss and slimy things :
The colors peeling from its empty halls.
The dew-pearled leaves against the moonbeams play.
The mountain breeze the clouds across it brings.
The River turns in mere contempt away,
And eastward from this sullen sorrow flings.
Where myriad peaks in wildered chaos peer,
Covered with clouds although no wind be near,
In rock-strewn valley cowers this lonely town.
Ere night the Moon will o'er the Pass appear.
In yon far country why so long delay?
He comes not back who L/ou-lan went to slay.
Across the clouds of dust and mist I stare
Whose broken southings brush my face all day.
Notes: Ch'in Chou : in Shensi.
This temple is said to have been the summer residence of the
Princes of Wei (RS| H HO- It is in the Eagle-nest Valley.
The River : i.e. Time. The Wei River flows eastward to Ch'ang-
an
Ivou-lan was slain by Fu Chieh-tze ({ ^ : f). In 100 B. C. Wu-i
went to .rule the Tatars (Hsiung-nu) and returned to the capital in
94 B.C. He was altogether nineteen years with the Tatars.
POEMS BY TU FU
57
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58 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
UNABLE TO VISIT JUDGE WANG OWING
TO RAIN
On a houseboat sleeping by the beach's side,
Moonbeams glinting on the shingle-washing tide.
A sudden gale arises ; and leaps the flaring light :
The river hisses as the rain comes streaming through
the night.
When dawn awakes the temple bell, the sky is full of
cloud.
The banks are wet ; and from afar
About the Hall of Rocks a shroud of mist- veils float-
ing are.
As with our sweeps we leave behind the wheeling
gulls' domain,
Your virtues, I perceive, alas ! I never can attain.
Notes : The scene is in the Ku'ei Chou district of Szechwan.
The Hall of Rocks is a famous locality there.
The last line conveys a delicate compliment.
POEMS BY TU FIT
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POEMS BY TU FU 61
THE RUNNERS OF SHIH HAO
(An incident of civil war)
The twilight gloamed. At Shih-hao Tsun I stayed.
Night soldiers brought the inmates to arrest.
The old man leapt the wall and fled affrayed :
To meet them issued his old wife distressed.
Shouted the soldiers tones in anger strong.
The woman's voice was broken with her woe.
I heard her say that her three sons had gone
To war at Yeh-ch'eng. They were forced to go.
That two were dead the last one wrote to say :
And he in constant jeopardy, he wrote.
Those dead were gone forever. Aye! Aye! Aye!
(With what a choke the words tore up her throat.)
Within the house there now was no one left-
Only her infant grandson at the breast,
'And his poor mother, thus of all bereft,
In worn and tattered robe was scantly dressed.
The poor old soul, enfeebled, aged and worn,
Through the dark night must with the soldiers go
Her enemies ! With agitation torn,
To cook a meal she hurries to and fro.
Their voices' sound the lengthening hours consume :
And weeping dies in strangling sobs away.
The light returns. As I my road resume,
But sad farewells to that old man I say.
Note : Shih-hao is 23 miles east of (gfc #j).
62
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64 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE LOST BEAUTY
Cut off from all my beauty only left
My gloomy dwelling is a hollow vale.
I sighing say, "Mid Trees and grass, ah me !
What can my parents goodly name avail ?"
"Within the Wall old 'days are swept away.
My brothers' lofty rank could nought prevail.
For they are slain : our scattered flesh and bone
Unburied lies All left me to bewail!"
"The world's desire is overborne by woe.
The fate of Man a candle's flickering light.
And my betrothed alas ! the wanton boy
Has made a lovelier face his heart's delight.
"Its time of flowering the Hibiscus knows.
The Birds of L,ove dispart not in the Night.
But when He sees his new bride's happy smile
The old love's sobbing is forgotten quite.
"Upon the Hill's pure breast the Spring is clear;
But turbid when the Hill it leaves behind!
My maid, returned with food my pearls have bought,
To patch our humble roof has creepers twined.
"The flowers I pluck I place not in my hair.
The cypress leaves my idle fingers bind.
To this chill air my green silk sleeves are thin :
Mid bamboos tall my fading Day declined!"
Notes : Within the Wall refers to the invasion in the time of
Tien Pao (^ 3E) when the incident described is said to have actually
occurred.
Hibiscus : The Chin ($J) which flowers and fades in one night,
the "Lady of the Night" (# < #) of the Malays. "Night"
means dark trouble.
The Hill: that is to say, a place of strong resting ; hinting both
at her betrothed who has abandoned her, and thereby cieiiled him-
self, and to the impossibility of her marrying again without defiling
herself: and also pointing to her loss of this world's gear her family
scattered and her spring muddied.
"Candle"
"Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow." Macbeth, Act V, Sc. 5.
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66 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A FAREWELL
Chao Fu is shaking his head ; no longer he wishes to
stay.
Eastward is going, to follow the sea and the mist away.
Leaving to heaven and earth his verse as a monument
To fish by the coral trees that grow in the argent bay.
He flies the monstrous rout that haunts the marsh and
deepest hills.
The windy scene of early Spring the shadowy twilight
fills.
The Weaver Maid her cloudy car from lost Atlantis
guides
To point through Space his wandering, lest fear his
spirit chills.
His essence born in Fairy Land from hence can lightly
fly.
Though mortal reason fail to see wherein the power lie,
Alas ! that still he hovers o'er the bitterness of death !
Yet wealth and honors are but dew the rapid sunbeams
dry.
Our Prince with kindness to his friends his flowing
bounty shares.
The night was clear; the wine was set before the
Palace stairs.
The music ceased sad parting's sign the Moon
the banquet lit.
How many years before from Space his message lulls
my cares ?
To caver ned Yii you southward go our friend Li Po to
see.
I beg that you will bear to him a greeting kind from me.
"Be wise, then, and like sated guest depart,
And calmly greet the quiet of the grave."
Lucretius (Salt).
POEMS BY TD FU
67
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POKMS BY TL T FU 69
THE CHARIOTS GO FORTH TO WAR
Chariots rumble and roll : horses whinny and neigh.
Footmen at their girdle bows and arrows display.
Fathers, mothers, wives, and children by them go
' Tis not the choking dust alone that strangles \vhat
they say I
Their clothes they clutch ; their feet they stamp ; their
crush blocks up the way.
The sounds of weeping mount above the clouds that
gloom the day.
The passers-by inquire of them, " But whither do you
go?"
They only say: ".We're mustering do not disturb
us so."
These, fifteen years and upwards, the Northern Pass
defend ;
And still at forty years of age their service does not
end.
All young they left their villages just registered were
they
The war they quitted sees again the same men worn
and gray.
And all along the boundary their blood has made a sea.
But never till the World is his, will Wu Huang happy
be!
70 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
Have you not heard in Shantung there two hundred
districts lie.
All overgrown with briar and weed and wasted utterly ?
The stouter women swing the hoe and guide the stub-
born plough,
The fields have lost their boundaries the corn grows
wildly now.
And routed bands with hunger grim come down in
disarray
To rob and rend and outrage them, and treat them as
a prey.
Although the leaders question them, the soldiers'
plaints resound.
And winter has not stopped the war upon the western
bound.
And war needs funds ; the Magistrates for taxes press
each day.
The land tax and the duties Ah ! how shall these be
found ?
In times like this stout sons to bear is sorrow and
dismay.
Far better girls to marry ( to a home not far away.
But sons! are buried in the grass! yon Tsaidam's
waste survey!
The bones of those who fell before are bleaching on
the plain.
Their spirits weep our ghosts to hear lamenting ail
their pain.
Beneath the gloomy sky there runs a wailing in the
rain.
"And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot."
Poe.
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POEMS BY TU FU
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72 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE RIVER'S BRIM
One day of Spring went stealing to Cliang-an River's
side
An ancient rustic weeping. To check his sobs he
tried.
The Palace doors are firmly locked. Beside the river's
brim
Do willows slim and rushes put forth their green for
him ?
He sees again, Ah! sadly, the rainbow banners play >
'And all the Southern Garden reflecting Love's array 9
And Yang Kuei-fei the lovely beside her lover ride
Together in one chariot attending at his side.
Before the chariot eunuchs their bows and arrows bear.
The courser champs his golden bit. She turns her
body fair,
And looking up to heaven with one bright smile she
brings
From out the clouds a captive of Love with beating
wings.
Those eyes so bright those teeth so white today
where may they be ?
The place her blood defiled her soul again may never
see.
POEMS BY TU FU 73
As Eastward through the Gorges the shining waters
bore,
So flowing on or stopping these lovers meet no more.
Ah ! man is born for loving. My breast is wet with
tears.
With river grass and river flowers if ended all our
fears !
Amid our country's twilight the Tatar horsemen ride.
Their dust clouds fill the city ; the very roads they hide.
Notes: ^ $ is the birthplace of Tu Fu.
ffi tC is a river near Chang-an.
Bg gj is the Court of Yang Kuei-fei, the ^ A of the
poem.
-% A are ft If Palace attendants.
?H a river.
M 13 a gorge of that name.
J are the Tatars.
" Golden lads and girls all must,
Like chimney-sweepers, come to dust."
Cymbeline, Act IV, Sc. 2.
74 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
HOMESICKNESS
Upon the river's whiteness the birds more clearly fly.
And with the greenness of the hills the flowers more
brightly vie.
In gazing on them all this Spring has slowly passed
away.
The day that brings me home again how long will
Time deny?
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POEMS SY TU VU
T'AI SHAN
Of T'ai Shan what can one say?
Here Lu and Ch'i for aye
Freshly their youth retain.
Here Heaven and Earth unite
Spiritual grace to form:
As a pole of shade and light
It sunders the dusk and dawn.
Soaring through layers of cloud,
At sight of it swells the breast.
At a glance the eye can view
The birds coming home to rest.
But climb to the uttermost peak-
All other hills seem small
As the eye o'erlooks them all !
75
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76 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
Notes: Tai-tsung is T'ai Shan, one of the Five Sacred Moun-
tains of China: so called because it is senior (f) to the other four.
Ch'i: A former state forming part of southern Chihli and
northern Shantung from B. C. 1122-412; and again reformed from
B. C. 412-224.
I/u : a former state, in which Confucius was born.
DUKE WU'S TEMPLE
The long-deserted Temple has lost its red and green.
Upon these hills all overgrown no passer-by is seen.
Though still resounds the vacant air with Wu Hou's
last farewell.
He rests no more at Nan-yang, devotion's closing scene.
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Notes: Wu Hou, one of the generals of Liu Pei, after a lifetime
of military service retired to Nanyang, whence at the close of a
devoted life he sent to his master his last farewell.
The old age of Wu Hou is compared to the temple erected to
him which has fallen into decay.
"Here, where a hero fell, a column falls."
Poe: The Coliseum.
POEMS BY TU FU 77
THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
The flutes that pipe in Chin-ch'eng town confuse the
light of day.
Half lost in clouds, the river breeze the one half bears
away.
Such music is confined to heaven, for Spirit ears
How rarely can mere mortals catch the echo's distant
play!
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"There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st.
But in his motion like an angel sings."
The Merchant of Venice, Act V, Sc. 1.
78 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
^THOUGHTS OF HOME
Amid the jade-green willow trees two golden orioles
sing.
Across the clear blue sky a flight of soaring egrets
wing.
The sighs of chilly Autumn, that breathe eternal snow
From Ormei's lofty mountain, about the casement flow.
Ah! would that they could take me back the thousand
miles and more
y
From hence to home those goodly ships that anchor
at my door!
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POEMS BY TU FU 79
THE CRESCENT MOON
The crescent Moon desired to mount on high.
Its slanting course ne'er grew to orbed sway.
A little while it peered above the Hill ;
Then lost in cloudy Sunset passed away.
The Milky Way no change of color knew.
No lofty peaks gleamed chiller for its fears.
The dews that fall so white within the Court
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The flowers' cups wept full with quiet tears.
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Note: The crescent Moon is the Heir Apparent of Yuan Tsung,
who fell in his first action against the rebels.
"But as the earth doth weep, the sun being set,
Each flower moisten' d like a melting eye."
The Rape of I^ucrece, V. 176.
80 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
TO THE MOON
The Autumn drawing up along the Night,
Amidst mankind the Moon casts shadows bright.
The Toad sinks not amid the Milky Way.
His elixirs the Hare pounds on for aye.
All brings but sorrow to my heart sincere !
And makes my whitening hair more white appear.
O'er all the earth resound loud war's alarms.
Illume no more, oh Moon ! these traitors' arms.
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Note: The Toad and the Hare are inhabitants of the Moon,
where the latter prepares the Magnum Opus.
They are used here as symbols for China, imperiled by intestine
warfare, yet ever saved by the great life force of her people.
The Hare is also an incarnation of Buddha (see Rhys Davids:
BttddMsm).
"Toad": "Sweet are the uses of adversity; which like the
toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head."
As You Like It, Act II, Sc. 1.
"The lanthorn is the moon; I, the man i' the moon: this thorn-
bush, my thorn-bush; and this dog, my dog!
Why, all these should be in the lanthorn ; for all these are in the
moon."
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act V, Sc. 1.
POEMS BY TU FU
81
THE TATAR HORSE
A Tatar horse from Derbend, all slimness, muscle, bone,
By ears erect like bamboo shoots its fiery spirit shown :
Hoofs swift as wind that spurn at space in rapid light
career :
Fit to be trusted with your life in peril far or near.
Ah, since a steed like this you own of such a haughty
strength,
To burst across a thousand miles were but a journey's
length.
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" Round-hoofed, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long,
Broad breast, full eye, small head and nostril -wide,
High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide."
Venus and Adonis, V. 50.
82 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
POUNDING THE CLOTHES
That from the war you would not come, alas 1 too well
I knew 1
And I must scrub the washing stone for Autumn's use
anew.
The bitter winter drawing on the months of cold are
near.
And since we parted ah! so long the days so lone and
drear 1
To pound these clothes such weary toil yet how can
I refuse?
Then send them to the Wall somewhere (Where
may you be? I muse).
My woman's strength is all worn out (but not my
anxious care ! )
Can you not hear the pounding drub come echoing on
the air?
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POEMS BY TU FU 83
THE HARVEST MOON (15th of 8th moon)
The flying mirror of the Moon is dazzling in mine eyes.
But, broken like a sword, my hope that distant home
denies.
I come from wandering o'er the Earth a creeping weed
am I! 9
I seek the elixir of life but ah ! you Heaven is high.
These moon-lit waters one would think were made of
frost and snow.
While in the woods each feathered bird the piercing
moonbeams show.
V Upon the Rabbit in the Moon I stare, and gazing dote;
As though I hoped to count the hairs upon his snowy
coat. '
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Note: The "Rabbit in the Moon" compounds the elixir of
Immortality. The poet speaks of the moonlight as almost bright
enough to reveal his alchemic arts.
"This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick;
It looks a little paler : 'tis a day
Such as the day is when the sun is hid."
The Merchant of Venice, Act V, Sc. 1.
84- GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE WANING MOON (16th of 8th moon)
Last night poured forth the Moon's bright golden
waves.
And all shall tell how pure this Autumn 's dew.
The mountains seemed to spread across the Earth.
The Milky Way flowed past high Heaven through.
Fuel seekers from ravines with songs return.
A lone flute in the town its woe uplifts.
From dreams disordered starts the fisher boy :
At midniht's hour across the stream he drifts.
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POEMS BY TU FU 85
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THE FADING MOON (17th of 8th moon)
The Autumn Moon is rounded still this night.
At Kiang-tsun I pass my lonely age.
I roll the blind : she yet pours down her light.
She follows aye my staff-propped pilgrimage.
Her piercing beams the hidden dragons know.
Her radiance wakes the fluttering birds from rest.
In orange groves stands my thatched bungalow.
All purity in this fresh dew expressed.
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"The moon being clouded presently is missed,
But little stars may hide them when they list."
The Rape of Lucrece, V. 144.
S6 GEMS OK CHINESE VERSE
THE SETTING SUN
The curtain-hooks were gilt as sunset sank.
Springtide along the torrents turns to gloom.
Wafts from green shores yon gardens' sweet perfume.
The gatherers of fuel, their meal to cook,
Have stayed their vessel on a sandy bank.
The shrieking birds that fight to settle there
Fall down. And all about the garden lookl
A cloud of insects flying in the air.
Oh ! muddy lees of wine ! who made you so
That one deep draught will scatter all my woe ?
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POEMS BY TU FU
THE PILLAR OF THE SOUTH
87
Down to the utmost southern verge high dignity has
gone.
The greatest Minister of State thy writing beareth on.
From Halls of Ceremony called the glory onward flows.
How many barbarous nations greet thy tablet as it
goes!
About yon travelling Yamen what flowery gums exhale,
As southward bound through drizzling mist bears that
Spring-laden sail !
But ah, alas! how can I tell when from the purple sea
The destiny of heaven will send you back again to me ?
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Notes: nl JE& Ssu-ma : The Senior Minister for War. , =
H -& tt : Three Ministers of State.
In the reign of The . Emperor Yuan-tsung (70 j^) , after the
subjugation of the |$j |8 (I/aos) , a brazen pillar was erected to mark
the frontier.
88
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A BOATING PARTY
At sunset it is well indeed to let the shallop go,
When lapping waves before the breeze along the water
flow.
For here are bamboo thickets green the wanderers to
hide:
And fit is evening air to cool the vestal Lily's side.
The youthful Prince is splashing up the water's
chilly waves,
While lily-roots with silken threads the lovely maiden
laves.
" Two's company ! " lyo! o'er my head an inky cloudlet
lours.
'Tis sure the rain that bends me o'er my poem ere it
showers !
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POEMS BY TU FU
AN AUTUMN VIEW
Across our view no bounds clear Autumn throws.
Yet massed shades along the distance rise.
Yon waters take pure colors from the skies.
O'er yon lone town the veiling mist wave flows.
The few last leaves the breezes bear away.
Yon hills though far, behind them sets the sun.
Ah ! why is not, lone Crane, thy journey done
When all the Woods with dizzy cawings sway?
89
7>
m me
il
7lC
di . il B
& a E
"Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sere."
Poe : Ulalume.
90 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
YO-YANG TOWER
Long since the fame of Tung-ting Lake I knew.
At last from Yo-yang Tower its truth I view.
To south and east two countries it divides;
While Earth and Sky swim ever on its tides.
No friend and no relation here engage.
This lonely boat my all in sickly age.
The war horse tramps the hills 'twixt home and me.
Yea, o'er this rail my tears fall bitterly.
*fc ft
H
ll]
Note : Yo-yang Tower is on the west gate of Yochow town.
^ is Kiangsu.
31 is Hupeh.
$ 1$ =^ ^ : Heaven and Earth.
$ft=a discharge from the eyes.
(g=a discharge from the nose.
POEMS BY TU FU
91
*
92 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
SNOW AT CHANGSHA
Out of the north the snow
Is assaulting Changsha :
Its clouds over Hunan go
(Where few snows are) :
A myriad homes makes cold
Far borne on the gale
With scattered leaflets old
Where raindrops hail.
Not grown to flake-like flowers.
Empty 'of angels pale
Flaccid my purse.
Yet a silver pot may bail
Credit for wine.
No one to fetch it ? Why then
I drain off the froth.
Must I wait again and again
Till the dizzy crows
Come home to their roosting bowers ?
Note: # = 2? ffl ;f=Snowflakes.
Jli= Beads of froth.
POEMS BY TU FU 93
A FARKWEU, ODE
The world is full of battle.
Why wilt thou ride away ?
Thy friends all weeping round thee
Because thou wilt not stay.
And yet your horse you saddle
For yon lone city gray.
The leaves are falling, falling;
The year is waxing old.
The mountains and the rivers
The frosty snows enfold.
That parting but of yesterday
Taught how they felt of old !
tt it
S g fir
H - 3
IT* - -- /MV t _ f%.
S ' BS. JK
II S if
a ^ H
* A ft
94
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE PASSING SHOWER
At evening o'er the village a sudden gust arose.
The darkened court the rain has soaked in passing
by.
Before the sunset now the grass is steaming dry.
The river's bright reflection on my far lattice glows.
My books are all disordered. Who else can put them
straight ?
The cup that now is dry, myself can fill again.
I often hear the whisper that brings the moment's hate.
Then wonder not if age from intercourse refrain.
*t
ff
SL If H!
a ir
e
A
POEMS BY TU FU 95
THE KINDLY RAIN
The kindly rain its proper season knows.
With gentle Spring aye born in fitting hour.
Along the Wind with cloaking Night it goes.
Enmoistening, fine, inaudible it flows.
The clouds the mountain paths in darkness hide.
And lonely bright the vessels' lanterns glower.
'Dawn shows how damp the blushing buds divide.
And flowers droop head-heavy in each bower.
*t
iff M
7i
s A
%Q
a: is A 9
Note: $4: The inmost of the Palace enclosures.
96 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE GEESE RETURN
They tell me that the geese this Spring
From far Canton their journey wing.
The flowers they see, and bid farewell
To the warm Ocean's southern swell.
By Ix>-fu Hills they sail along
Until the melting snow be gone.
Such things the soldiers' spirits feel :
And hopes of home they sadly steal.
Yet frost and mist from year to year
~ These hills dispart, retaining here
The geese ; that never should have crossed
The lakes where Autumn brines but frost.
JE
m
Note : JL 8) : The Tung-ting Lakes.
# ft # Jffi : With frost come the wild geese.
POEMS BY TU FU 97
DAWN
In Po-ti town the watchman 's rap is over for to-night.
On Yang-t'ai Hill the dawn grows up from darkness
into light.
Upon the lofty mountain peaks the sunlight glances
chill.
Below o'er massed ranges'sleep the night-dark cloudlets
still.
Above the river's bank up peers a slowly gliding sail.
The day so clear makes audible each falling leaflet frail.
Beside the gate of woven thorn pass by a pair of deer.
Ah ! could I join your troop to go where fairies linger
near !
6
tt
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fl la m
*% 21 W *
rirt
Notes : Q ^f (Po-ti) now /^c ^c (Yung-an).
Yang-t'ai : a hill in Wu-shan Hsien (Jj Jlj |E|).
"Watchman " : "Or the bellman's drowsy charm
To bless the doors from nightly harm."
II Penseroso.
"Massed ranges " :
"Mountains, on whose barren breast
The labouring clouds do often rest."
I/ Allegro.
"Deer":
"Since men prove beasts, let beasts bear gentle minds."
The Rape of Lucrece, V. 164.
98 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
MY REFLECTION BY NIGHT
Some scattered grass. A shore breeze blowing light.
A giddy mast. A lonely boat at night.
The wide-flung stars o'erhang all vasty space.
The moonbeams with the Yangtze's current race.
How by my pen can I to fame attain ?
Worn out, from office better to refrain.
Drifting o'er life and what in sooth am I?
A sea-gull floating twixt the Earth and Sky.
x ft
*
M
Fame " :
"Alas ! what boots it with incessant care
To tend the homely, slighted, shepherd's trade r
And strictly meditate the thankless Muse."
I/ycidas
THE PAIR OF SWALLOWS
A pair of swallows startled me at my passover meal
That to the northern Hall some mud were bearing
for their nest,
Me, doomed till cooler autumn come in sweltering
clime to rest,
Until with them I fly away, this damp and heat to feel.
The little ones into the world are born 'twixt Earth and
Air.
Their parents here to bear them a weary journey
wing.
To them above, to me on Earth, may Autumn free-
dom bring.
Then also I with them can fly this Outland of Despah'.
tt It
\ J^_ * i?.J
f M A :
100
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
tt *
A m -t
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POEMS BY TU FU 101
THE HALT, OF HARPS %
That long excess at Mao-ling had constant sickness
brought :
And yet the princely Clio-Wen his dearest friend he
thought.
Amidst the herded world of men a tavern must he
keep.
O'er him as o'er his Hall of Harps the clouds of Sun-
set creep.
The rosettes that their cheeks made fair the wild flowers
yet retain :
The colors of their silken robes our modern creepers
stain.
But ah! the burden of his song, u The Phoenix seeks
his mate,"
No more is heard and fading hence left Echo
desolate.
Notes: Ssu-tna Hsiang-ju, of Chengtu in Szechwan, being at
the end of his resources and sick, did not like to return to his home.
The Prince of Cho had a daughter who was lately widowed and
partial to music. Hsiang-ju moved her by his playing on the harp.
When the Prince had to flee as a fugitive, Hsiang-ju sold all his
effects and bought a tavern where the Prince sold wine and Hsiang-
ju washed the wine cups.
" 'Tis certain, greatness once fallen out with fortune,
Must fall out with men, too."
Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Sc. 3.
The burden of the song with which Hsiang-ju moved the
Princess was :
"The Phoenix oh! the Phoenix oh! back to his village came
From wandering over distant seas to seek his Ix>ve again."
in ^ a ^ if sc m
1 B * * X
"To the phoenix and the dove,
Co-supremes and stars of love."
The Phoenix and the Turtle.
Mao-ling where Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju and Cho-wen sold wine is
in Chengtu. Hsiang-ju suffered from chronic dysentery,
fg yeh = feM: Flower filagree work,
jft ?: The Convolvulus (?)
102
tt *
H
fi *
H E
POEMS BY TU FU 103
THE TEMPLE TO YU
Behold the temple to Great Yii betwixt two hollow
hills!
The sun slopes down behind it, and the breath of
Autumn chills.
Yet orange trees and pomeloes droop round the lonely
halls.
And dragons, gods of waters, writhe about the an-
cient walls.
And all about each vacant room white misty cloudlets
curl ;
As far along the silver sand the river waters purl.
By boat, by cart, by sledge, by pile, he labored long
ago.
To pierce these distant hills and guide the triple rivers'
flow.
Notes : 29 IK : The four transports
fa HI ft by boat across water.
^ j$s j|t on land by carts.
ffi^R^fe over mud_by sledges.
UJ ^ IS over hills by piles.
H E = H gSt : The triple gorges.
The Temple to Yii is in L,in-kiang Hsien (fig tt JK) two li from
the Min River (flg ft) in Szechwan.
"Prophetic sounds and loud arise for ever
From us, and from all Ruin, unto the wise,
As melody from Memnon to the Sun."
Poe : The Coliseum.
104
GEMS OP CHINESE VERSE
tt
iff H
K ill 4b
POEMS BY TU FU 105
THE IMPERIAL TOMBS
The girdle ornaments are chill
Of those that serve about the Tomb,
I<ost in the chamber's vaulted gloom.
And there the Hall of State is still ;
But when the wind of Autumn sere
Conies wailing through the Palace drear.
The Moon o'erpeers the land of Ch'in,
Now sloping down unto the West :
The Dragon Pool comes creeping in
The ancient building to invest.
Another day of travel done,
We anchor with the setting sun.
The water clock with dripping clear
As then marks out the passing Time :
And in my memory rise ahear
Those Gardens glittering white with rime:
A thousand miles away I view
The Tombs and Yellow Hill anew.
Notes : g III : The name of the Palace.
g gfc : The tomb of Yuan Tsung (70 I*).
"Ivong time the light from Ancus' eyes hath fled,
Whose Kingly deeds were nobler far than thine."
Lucretius (Salt).
106
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE MOCKING BIRD
What ! Is the mocking bird come?
The Spring, he comes to say,
The Spring is here to-day.
All sounds, all words he knows.
His feathers preen how he will,
He is the same bird still.
Where flowers most thickly screen,
Difficult to be seen,
His varying notes deride
The topmost boughs between.
If out of time he chide,
Lo ! slander at your side !
tt
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POEMS BY TU FU 1Q7
The war drum booms: all roads are bare.
One wild goose clangs : 'tis Autumn there.
Our nightly dews hence will be white.
On our old home the Moon is bright.
Brothers have I all scattered far.
Homeless, how know if still they are?
Letters I send : but none reply.
Is this not War's sad tyranny ?
n m A
5E
TJ
Note : Tu Fu had two younger btothers, one in Honan, and one
in Sbeusi.
103
OEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
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109
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110 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE BRIDE'S LAMENT
Where choked with hemp and weeds the dodder grows
It lowly creeps and hides its drooping head.
Your daughter better to have cast away
Beside the road, than to a soldier wed.
As your young wife I dressed my maiden hair;
Yet had not time, alas, to warm your bed.
At twilight married, Dawn brought sad farewell
Short hours of hurry that too quickly fled.
Hoyang indeed is not so very far-
That frontier post to which your steps are sped.
But how can I before your parents serve
Ere yet our marriage rites are finished ?
Both day and night my parents kept retired
My tender life; until, the maiden's due,
The time arrived that I should married be.
Then my old pets accompanied me too.
Beside the Realm of Death you live Ah ! me!
My heart is rung with anguish and with rue.
In hesitation trembles all my frame.
And yet I swear I long to go with you.
POEMS BY TU FU 111
Upon our recent marriage do not dwell I
Set all your heart your duties stern to do.
For if your wife were with you in the host,
In vain, I fear, would arms or glory sue.
Alas ! that I, of humble parents born,
Too long have tender silk and samite worn !
My thoughts no more can silk or samite sway,
As my sad tears wash all my rouge away.
I lift my eyes to see the birds that fly
Both great and small, all pairing in the sky-
All human things the gales of Fate constrain.
Ah ! were I only joined to you again !
112
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
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if in
POEMS BY TU FU 113
CHIANG TSUN
The sunset reddens o'er the lofty peak.
The sun steps down the level plain to seek.
The sparrows twitter on the wicker door
Home! yet so many miles have left me weak.
My wife and children start to see me here.
Surprise scarce vanquished wipes a furtive tear :
To think that swept by anarchy away
Yet Chance returns me to each bosom dear.
The garden wall with neighbors' heads is lined.
Bach breast surcharging breaks in sighings kind
All night beside the candle's beam we sit,
As though in 'dreams and absence still we pined.
Note : fg jt$i : To hold the candle : as Kuan-yii ($ 20) did when
shut up all night by Tsao-Tsao with the wives of I^iu Pei.
"How far that little candle throws his beams f
So shines a good deed in a naughty world."
The Merchant of Venice, Act V, Sc. 1.
"Both stood, like old acquaintance in a trance;
Met far from home, wondering each other's chance."
The Rape of Lucrece, V. 228.
The poem refers to the story of a young man who was carried
away prisoner during troublous times. One can imagine that in
such days of unrest as, say, the Taiping Rebellion, such occasions
must have frequently occurred.
114
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE.
it
ffi '
ffi
Jb Si
POEMS BY TU FU 115
THE FIREFLY
Born from rotting grasses damp
Still the daylight thou must fear.
On my scroll thy tiny lamp
Scarcely lets the words appear. v
But on stranger's dress from far
Shinest thou a tender star.
Or when wind -borne on the gauze
Of my window making pause,
Small thy phosphorescent beam
As a fairy's eye doth gleam.
From the rain you safely hide
In the woodland undescried.
But once November's frosts are chill
Thou leaflike fadest from the hill.
Note : The firefly is common in most parts of China, and on a
dark evening of spring may be seen in numbers, each floating like a
little lamp about the trees.
A scholar of old, when illuminants were dear or unknown, is
said to have used fireflies as lamps to study by at night The
Chinese children have a rime which they call to the firefly to make
him settle that they may catch him. The Kweilin version is as
follows :
Mien-hua, mien-hua, ch'ung ch'ung Lo lai E pun mi-tang.
"Firefly, firefly, come down: I have a bowl of honey."
"Mien-hua:" probably a corruption of "ying huo," the classical
name for firefly.
"The glow-worm shows the matin to be near,
And 'gins to pale his uneffectual fire."
Hamlet, Act 1, Sc. 5.
"And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs,
And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes."
, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III, Sc. 2.
116
GEMS OP CHINESE VERSE
fe^i /,*
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1 1- VT
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POEMS BY TU FU 117
YU HWA GUNG
Returned from years of exile, lo, I find
The fir trees groaning in the dismal wind :
Beneath I know not what lost Prince's hall
The field mouse burrows in the shattered wall.
The rooms are dim and baleful corpse fires glare
O'er mouldering walls and streak the murky air.
The bamboos sob a note of piping wail
Through Autumn's gloomy damp and misty veil.
To yellow clay each lovely maid is turned :
My foot the sherds of ointment boxes spurned :
And where the Prince's chariots once were seen
Stone horses now watch where his tomb has been.
Upon the grass the singer now must sit
To pour with tears the hoarseness of his song :
And ponder how to deep oblivion flit
The men who rode the paths of battle strong.
118
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
f
Id*
rr
ji,
POEMS BY TU FU 119
THE MILKY WAY
Often hidden, often bright,
Clearest on an autumn night,
Sometimes covered with the shroud
Of some fleecy streak of cloud,
Yet, when passed, thou dost appear
All the night both bright and clear.
In and out thy starry doors
Fly the fairies of the sky,
For we see them opening, closing,
As each spirit passes by.
Thou descendest with the moon
/ 7
Down the high empyrean'' hill :
Ah, but thy most precious boon
v When thou boldest breathless still,
4
Lest the weaver maid might miss
Her herdboy lover's annual kiss.
Note : The Milky Way is called in Chinese the River of Heaven.
On either side of its banks are the stars known as the Herdboy and
Weaver Girl which meet only once a year (on the 7th day of the 7th
moon) . The legend says that on these spirits being married they
were so much in love as to quite neglect their daily avocations, much
to the disgust of the gods, who separated them and allowed only one
meeting a year. These are the Spirits of Love in China, and on the
day of their meeting the young unmarried women give a public ex-
hibition in their homes of embroidery work, etc.
The twinkling of the stars in the Milky Way is said to be the
opening and closing of their gates as ^spirits enter and leave. The
Australians call the Milky Way " The Ash Path of Souls."
120 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
FLOWER LOVE
By Wang Wei
Dost wonder if my toilet room be shut?
If in the regal halls we meet no more?
I ever haunt the Garden of the Spring ;
From smiling flowers to learn their whispered lore.
m m
T-
T
Note : jfci JJ: The Handsome Fair: A title of honor applied to
the most literary of the Imperial concubines of the Han Dynasty.
This quatrain celebrates one of them who instead of competing for
favor amid the other ladies of the Court found more pleasure in
making love to the flowers.
"Our flowers are merely flowers,
1
And the shadow of thy perfect bliss
Is the sunshine of ours."
Poe : Israfel.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 121
LIFE'S ROAD
By Wang Wei
'Tis time to say farewell. My horse I stay.
The Palace Moat is chilled as if with woe.
Before me stretch the Hills in grand array.
V Went you with me, it were no grief to go.
m JK t P m '-
la ill ft H
88 ffi 31 18 1fi
TO-DAY
By Wang Wei
I had lately removed back to near Meng-ch'eng Valley
A few ancient trees, same waste willows were left.
But he who comes after me, what will he find here ?
Why yearn for the glories the Years have bereft ?
dtti
m P
^L. Sffr
>wv nm
A ^
122 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A SILENT NIGHT
By Wang Wei
My idle days are counted by the falling cassia flowers.
Upon the hills the Spring alone records the noiseless
hours.
At sudden rising of the Moon loud shrieks each forest
bird.
And yet amid the vernal streams their song is often
heard.
X- ; 41
ffl & ill
Note : Cassia flowers bloom all through the year, and therefore
are an emblem of Immortality.
"How still the evening is,
As hushed on purpose to grace harmony ! "
Much Ado about Nothing, Act II, Sc. 3.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 123
Jr^
THE FORM OF THE DEER
By Wang Wei
So lone seem the hills ; there is no one in sight there.
But whence is the echo of voices I hear?
The rays of the sunset pierce slanting the forest,
And in their reflection green mosses appear.
m
lU ;.;$..&'..&
i a ffl A fg 9
Note : H=The place where the deer sleeps : its " form.' '
THE MOON
By Wang Wei
In bamboo thicket hid, sitting alone am I.
First my guitar I strum ; then stop to whistle a while.
Amid the grove so thick, no mortal can me spy.
But we behold each other, the lucent Moon and I.
A
124
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE HUNT
By Wang Wei
The bows of horn are twanging, and bitter blows the
North,
"As from the town of Wei-ch'eng the hunters issue forth.
The hawk's eye gazes keenly across the prairie dry.
The snow is gone, and lightly the horsemen gallop by.
To Hsin-li town we sweep along; then back to Hsi-
liao.
Lo ! where we shot the eagle rolls the clouded sunset
now !
ja is
m n
fr
TtT
=f- fi
Note : Wei-ch'eng is in Si-an Fu, in the Ch'ang-an district.
'Oft listening how the hounds and horn
Cheerly rouse the slumbering morn."
I/ Allegro.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 125
HSIANG CHI TEMPLE
By Wang Wei
For Hsiang-chi Temple seeking far and near
O'er cloudy peaks for miles I wandered lone.
In this old wood no human tracks appear.-
In hills so vast how trace the bell's deep tone?-
Huge boulders swallow up the bubbling streams.
In chilly gloom the firs the daylight snare.
The pools alone sing to the twilight's beams.
Here meditation rules each hissing care.
A 8
/fllC
Ss A
H
126 GEMS OK CHINESE VERSK
111
S Ul ill % P
e
A
tit a A
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 127
CHUNG-NAN HIIX
By Wang Wei
The mighty hill of Chung-nan is near to Si-an town ;
And sloping to the river its skirts go pouring down.
I gaze about. On every side the white clouds gird the
sky.
On near approach no verdant lawns among ;ts masses
lie.
The peaks from every point of view their melting out-
lines change.
In each ravine the light and shade through many
colors range.
And should you wish a house to find where you the
night may pass,
They only know who o'er the stream come up to cut
the grass.
128
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
B& it ffi Uj
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 129
MY VILLA AT CHUNG-NAN
By Wang Wei
In middle age I loved to walk the path of Buddhist
lore.
A home I've made these latter years on Chung-nan's
frontier hoar.
As prompts the mood I ever come to wander here
alone,
Where all the pleasure that I find is mine and all mine
own.
Some stream I follow to its source ; and there I set me
down
To watch the clouds come drifting up across the moun-
tains brown.
Perchance some aged rustic may light upon me there:
Forgetting time we chat and laugh, oblivious of care.
130 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
" SO FAREWELL. AND IF FOR EVER, STILL
FOR EVER FARE YE WELL."
By Wang Wei
Quitting my horse, a cup with you I drank.
And drinking, asked you whither you were bound.
Your hopes unprospered, said you, turned you round
To sleep amid the Range's outer ground.
You went. I asked no more. The White Clouds
pass,
And never yet have any limit found.
m
e
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 131
uj jg IK m
T $t
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T it
132 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
LATE SUMMER
By Waiig Wei
The vacant hills are fresh with recent rain.
The coming autumn threats in evening's chill.
Amid the firs the moon peeps in again.
Bright flashes o'er the stones each mountain rill.
With chat of maids, who take their homeward way
Their washing done, the bamboo_grovesresound.
The fisher's skiff the lotus brushes round :
The water ripples as they stir and sway.
Although the fragrance of the Spring be gone,
,
Yet Nature's lover well may linger on.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 133
A MOUNTAIN RETREAT
By Wang Wei
Over against the Chung-nan Hill
See shyly peer my roof of thatch :
The whole year round so lone and still
No stranger's hand will lift the latch .
Time is my own to idle here ;
In pebbled rills the fish to catch :
Or quaff a flask of vintage clear.
Come thou and share my simple cheer
One moment's pleasure snatch.
a:
u
m m at * M
Note : The Chung-nan Hills are near Si-an Fu in Shansi
134
GEMS OF CHINESE: VERSE
WAITING
By Meng Hao-jan
The evening sun the Western Hills has crossed.
The crowd of valleys are in darkness lost.
The Moon Night's coolness heralds o'er the pine.
While rills and breezes pipe their music fine.
Those seeking fuel have almost all gone home.
The birds are settling in their leafy dome.
Beside the pathway all with creepers dressed
My lonely harp is calling you to rest.
til
A
Sfc
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 135
SPRINGTIDE DREAMS
By Meng Hao-jan
In Springtide's dreams the dawn is sweetly drowned ;
Till everywhere the songs of birds resound.
I heard last night the rush of wind and rain.
How many Flowers have fallen to the Ground?
Notes : Spring, i.e., love : Flowers, i.e., fair hopes.
136 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
CROSSING THE SIANG AT NIGHT
By Meng Hao-jan
Night though it be, o 'er the waters of Siang
To cross by the ferry the traveller longs.
He knows by their fragrance the pear trees in blossom
That some gather lilies, he knows by their songs.
By lights on the shore is the bold helmsman steering^
The fisher boy sleeps in the mist on the lake.
The voice of those passing is heard in the darkness
"To Tsen-yang, I pray you, which way should we
take?"
.tin.
3? tt
A
ut
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
137
ON JUN CHOU CITY WAU
By Ch'iu Wei
At eve the wanderer climbs the wall beside the river's
brim,
The Wall upon the bound of Heaven where all looks
wildly dim.
The islets float almost awash upon the vernal tides.
The male and female rainbows a dying shower divides.
A distant bird, a lonely sail, afar off I can see.
The rising mist curls close beneath a solitary tree.
The hills beside my native place I cannot view aright :
Those ranges west of Kuangling have cut them off
from sight.
*H
a:
Notes :
^ W Pi IE Jl
A * ft H &
un ^rt ^E -frfcf nV
JKH >flJ 3^ M /S
Is the male, f| The female rainbow.
m in n w
138 GEMS OF CHINESE VERS
THE PEAR TREE BY THE SIDE DOOR
By Ch'iu Wei
Thy oeauty pure outmocks the driven snow.
About our robes thy wafted fragrance clings.
The Breath of Spring has never ceased to flow :
Towards the Palace steps thy Scent it wings.
15
& ft 9
1= 12 A
a B. ^
ft 3E B
"The frolic wind that breathes the Spring,
Zephyr, with Aurora playing
As he met her once a-Maying."
V Allegro.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 139
PEREUNT ETIAM RUINAE
By Ch'en Tze-ang
There, to the South from the Chieh-shih Inn,
A far off behold is the Tower of Gold :
The place of the Yen the wild birds ken
Where the masses of foliage lie fold on fold.
Peace is to Shao Wang who ruled of yore.
His plans of conquest are now no more.-
The horse that I rode I again bestrode
And returned by the way that I came before.
"Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for oblivion."
Troilus and Cressida, Act III, Sc. 3.
140 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
EVENING
By Ch'en Tze-ang
Late, late : and grey day darkens into eve ;
While trembling in the birth of Autumn air
The flower of Life is shaken till it falls.
And what of all the hopes we formed so fair ?
e H
& a
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 141
CHIU-HUA KUAN IN SPRING
By Ch'en Tze-ang
Yon fairy Tower of purest jade how many ages knew!
From Tan-ch'iu Hill far off it seems to melt away from
view.
The torrents seem to mingle with the sunlit cloudy sky.
The roofs of leaf-hung arbours are lost in mists on
high.
On trees a thousand winters old the snow-white heron
leaps.
One hundred feet in rainbow shape the bridge spans
o'er the deeps.
In such a place might still be met some elfin sage of old.
Upon the path of Heaven I sit his coming to behold.
fi 3E fill
ft &. W
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A
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is it ^ fe ir
5c S& ^fe ffl ^
Note : Ht A kiosque with trees about it.
142 GEMS OF CHINESE VERS5
THE GRASS
By Po Chii-i
How densely thick the grass upon the plain 1
Decay and splendour oue year to it brings.
The corpse-fires burn it down but all in vain
With each new breath of Spring it lives again.
Its fragrance creeps across the Ancient Ways,
Its sun-lit verdure o'er the ruin strays.
Its growth speeds Nature's lover on his ways.
With wild farewells its long luxuriance rings.
Jg
- *&
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 143
A ^MIST SKETCH
By Po Chii-i
Beneath the firs the lad to me replied : *
" My master has but gone to simples seek."
He said: " He climbed this nearest mountain side."
(Then, with a pause, he added, gazing wide: )
; *The clouds are dense; he's hidden in the reek."
Note : This poem is intended to show the simple similarity ot
early verse to pictures.
144 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE POND
By Po Chii-i ,
Her shallop small the little maiden rows. .
With stealthy hand the waterlilies white
She comes to pluck and bear away ; nor knows
How to conceal her traces. See, there goes
Her track across the floating duekweed light.
_L
ft
POEMS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS- 145
A NIGHT ON THE CHI PAN HILLS
By Shen Ch'uan-ch'i
Wandered many a league and far
The Chipan peaks are my inn to-night.
The moon of the hills my window fills.
And the Milky Way at the door is bright.
The springtide scents each verdant dome ;
The cuckoo calls in the night so clear.
The wanderer sleepless lies to hear
How the morning cocks crow loud at home.
-t
M A ^
"Cocks":
"While the cock, with lively din,
Scatters the rear of darkness thin."
I/' Allegro.
146 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
t. y, P cJ -M4 rfc-H-
4% 1^1 ^ ^f
A ffl
iii
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 147
THE OLD RETIRED OFFICIAL v
By Shen Ch'uan-ch'i
Now the world is all behind me,
Never comes its echo here.
On the greybeard's staff supported
From the hills I see the farmers
Till the fruitage of the year.
Should a passer search to find me
Let him, like the man of yore,
Follow up the murmuring brooklet
Till he see the flowering peach tree
Standing by the cottage door.
Lost am I in lonely valleys,
Like to him who culling simples
In the forest's gloomy alleys
Entered to return no more.
Here, like travellers, the people,
Not like cheery neighbours greeting.
Ask each others' names on meeting.
Bird to bird from tree to tree
Pipes: " Who art thou that callest me?"
Though I wander, still and lone,
Lonely must my pleasures be.
Sorrowful and shamed I moan
That lack of talent exiles me.
148 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
III
ffi tlj
JH nS
a
K *n A W A
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 149
THE GORGES OF THE YANGTZE
By Shen Ch'uan-ch'i
The Magic Hill soars out of sight
Piled up in weird fantastic form,
In each ravine such shadowy night
As comes from wind and rain and storm.
In each abyss the gloom of hell
Where ghouls and hideous devils dwell.
^Within the triple gorge from high
The Moon sheds down a kind of dawn.
In Spring the rivers nine foam by.
What else of wild is here forlorn
Oh ! ask not me. He who in dream
Its spirit saw would fitter seem.
Note: The San Hsia triple gorges are : (J3 g | : If gg t% :
and SJ #0 Hsi-ling gorge, Kuei-hsiang gorge, and Wu gorge, the
word Wu meaning wizard. The nine rivers are the Niao-po, Feng,
Niao, Kah-fey, Ch'uan, Yuan, Lin, T'i, and K'un. (& & &; ^
It, Jktt, X IB J& * &X tL * tL
" In drtiain its Spirit saw." Prince Hsiang of Ch'u when at
Yang-t'ai saw in a dream a lovely maiden, who declared herself to
be the Fairy of the Wu Shan. Cf. " The Dream of Maxen Vledig "
in the Mabinogian.
150 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
"IN THE SPRING"
By Wang Ch'ang-ling
" Within her peaceful chamber, no care the maid
oppressed ;
Until the verdant IWer she climbed one springtide,
gaily dressed.
The stir of sprouting foliage beyond the street she
saw.
Regret she'd sent her love to fame rose swelling in her
breast."
LONGING
By Chang Chiu-ling
Since, ah! you went away,
What grief my mind can sway?
I yearn like the moon at full :
Am duller day by day !
m
in ^
iff
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 151
THE SOLITARY
By Chang Chiu-ling
Up from deep Ocean to seek the far Northland
Soars on broad pinions the lonely wild swan.
Below him he hears the loud clang of the marshes,
Yet dare not descend their dread waters upon.
As he passes high-sailing he notes in the pearltree
Two halcyons are building their beautiful dome.
High up in the glittering branches they build it,
That no jealous bullet may reach their bright home.
True is it that riches attract the ill-wisher,
And gods too resentful the high-placed must rue.
Yet I who but wander alone and deserted
Can never awaken the hunter's halloo.
A
152 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE WATERFALL
By Chang Chiu-ling
Comes from the red earth cliff rushing the waterfall
high,
Sheer from the azure ether, half way up to the sky.
Under the scattered trees plunges with wrack and
roar:
Sprays like another bank of clouds to the zenith soar.
There in the sunlight dances the rainbowjris form.
The sky is blue : yet is heard the crash of the fain and
storm.
The hills in sympathy blend ; their beautiful colours
glow.
Mingle the earth and sky in the waters' hollow bow.
^ ifc T
M & iu
H m K
Note : The form of this poem resembles the fine description of
a waterfall in Lord Byron's Childe Harold ( Canto 4 : Verse 69 et
seq.) especially in the inclusion of the Iris. y^ , s'i^v
The situation is in the Lieu Shan.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 153
CARPB HORAS
By Ts'en Ts'an
I see the flowers of this year as good as those of last :
But, oh, the maid of last year this year is ageing fast.
The maid, unlike the blossom, her youth may not
renew.
You failed, alas, to gather up the bloom ere it was past.
m m.
4-
A i'J 4-
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it
154 . GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
DESOLATION
By Ts'en Ts'an
Dismounting from my horse I climb the city's girdling
wall.
The town of Yeh, of old so fair, is wild and ruined all.
The zephyrs blow,the corpse fires' glow about each
shattered hall.
While dun the twilight follows on the sunset's cloudy
pall.
Before the Southern angle stands The Brazen Tower
of yore.
The river's flow must eastward go, returning never-
more.
The palace courts are waste and lone; no footfall
echoes there.
How sadly Spring its flowers must bring to each
deserted door!
*F J jR
tit Q M
Jit . Bfc Sf
"S* "1 3E& ^^
^ A Tit ^
jsfe m ffi a
ft * ^ * A ft
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'Time's ruiu, beauty's wreck, and grim care's reign."
The Rape of Lucrece, V. 208.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 155
A B 3F *t ffr Si
A H
A B
A H
A H ^n M
* A
156 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
TO TU FU
By Ts'en Ts'an
To Cheng-tu lo ! as greeting a New Year verse I send.
Ah, pity him who from his home a banished age must
spend !
The fresh green shoots of willow I cannot bear to see.
The plum trees full of blossom my very vitals rend.
As Prefect here in Szechwan I have no grasp of things.
With thousand fears and worries my anxious duty
stings.
This New Year we are distant far; 1 merely dream
of you.
But who can tell if next year another meeting brings?
Like him who on the Eastern Hills for thirty years had
slept
Perchance from age my book and sword to scattered
dust have crept.
Two thousand piculs salary although my dotage win,
Ah! had I only, free as you, my power of roaming
kept!
Notes : A H =7th of 1st moon.
1j ^ = Tu Fu's home at Cheng-tu.
ffi3 i.e., Szechwan.
^ M Book and Sword the impedimenta and insignia of the
scholar. The latter has, as in Europe, fallen into disuse.
(Perhaps also used to signify " body and mind.")
Hence perhaps the Magic sword of the Taoist as Virgil became
a magician.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 157
RECOLLECTION
By Weu Ting-lisiin
Alone upon this river tower
What gloomy thoughts my heart devour!
Like waters still the moonbeams flow.
The river joins the sky below.
But where are they who with me came
To gaze upon her lambent flame?
The scene is much like last year's: yet
Those gone how can my heart forget ?
21 'Be IB
in 7jc 7jc in
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158 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
SPRIGS OF WILLOW (An allusion)
By Wen Ting-hsiin
Beside the Hall of Hsi Shih by Yeh-ch'eng's city wall
The willow branches stretch their hands in mute
appeal to all.
Their shadows on the river with those of sails compete;
Their nearer bendings brush the bank with salutation
sweet.
What bound the Wanderer's heart-strings and bade
him turn again
Was not the verdure of the grass all lush with vernal
rain.
ft & :-B IK
ffi VI 2 9
Notes : Hsi Shih: see the poems by I/i Po and Tu Fa and p. 189
in this volume and notes thereto.
Yeh Ch'eng: the capital of the state of Wei (&) where are
many poplars and willows, on the Ling-yen Hill O 3 |Il) near Ku
Su, the residence of Hsi Shih. The ruins of Yeh Ch'eng are de-
scribed on page 154 of this volume.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 159
ANCHORED BY NIGHT
By Chang Chi
The failing of the moonlight the cawing crow awakes,
And glitters all the sky above with shining frosty
flakes.
The maples on the river bank, the lamps the fishers
bear,
Cast gloomy shadows through the night that vex our
rest with care.
From yonder Chill Hill Temple by Soochow's ancient
town
The sudden booming of the bell, the midnight calling
down,
Comes with a clang that startles our ship-borne
comrades' ears.
Imagination's pulses beat quick with shadowy fears.
2C ft '& ,& K 9B
160 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A A
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 161
THE RETORT COURTEOUS
By Chang Chi
That I am duly married, assuredly you know,
And yet to me you send as gift twin pearls of mystic
glow.
For this your kind devotion my heart must grateful
be.
I hung within my red silk vest those pearls I might
not show.
My dwelling is a lofty one within a stately dome.
My husband is a soldier who guards the Emperor's
home.
I recognize your love as bright as shining sun or moon :
Yet swear to serve my husband, and never from him
roam.
With your bright pearls I send again twin tears as
crystal clear,
Regretting that we had not met ere Fortune placed me
here.
162 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A VILLAGE SCENE
By Ssu K'ung-shu
Returning from my fishing my skiff I left unbound.
The moonlight brings sweet slumber on all the village
round .
Though by the wind all night pursued, my shallop
cannot stray.
Tis grounded where the rushes in shallow ripples play.
IP
tt *t R IE *K UK
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
163
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PB A
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164 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE SONG OF THE WILLOW FLOWERS
By Hsieh Neug
Cast into Life without an object born
Oh, Willow Catkins by Time's eddies torn
Ah ! what fond Tree has cast you on the air
i
To fly with Spring into my Yard forlorn ?
At morn your carpet hides the flagstones bare .
Your sunlit gliding shadows wake no care.
The butterflies are shrouded in your clouds,
As well as those ascending Heaven's stair.
The River bears you to the Ocean's breast.
Or clogging Rain amid the dust has pressed.
Oh, when the day of Love and Joy be come .
May You as lightly on my bosom rest!
Notes : Spring is Love.
River : The Stream of Time.
Ocean: The Ocean of the Past, which stands ever still. Nur
ewig still steht die Vergangenheit.
Clogging Rain : The gross delights of sensuality.
Heaven's stair: "To be wise and love, is granted dnly to the
Gods above."
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 165
T & ffi
a
It It fSJ
166 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE FALUNG LEAF
By Hsieh Neng
From Heaven's height a Flake of shadow glides.
A light Leaf idly sailing downward goes,
Is wafted by the zephyrs to the Earth.
Which Tree is it that first the Autumn shows ?
Its color changed ! The Yellow must be nigh.
The Woods it left are glossy yet with Green.
Alone it floats upon the water clear ;
Or lone descends upon the Pass unseen.
At sight of it a sadness touches me.
This Sereness will not end with one, I fear.
So far from Thee my heart a vacant moon !
Why wish to know another sorrow near?
t
Note : The Yellow is the yellow tinge of autumn foliage, the
Yellow Springs of Hades.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
167
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168
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 169
MOON THOUGHTS
By Chang Jo.hsii
Over a river by the ocean floating
That flows not for the tide
, The moon uprises on the waters' motion
With equal kingdom wide.
The Ocean's face is radiant with her glory.
Perfumed through flowery banks the river flows,
And serpents with a winding desultory
By flowering woods that gleam as purest snows,
So white that ivory no outline shows,
Nor seen the white sand on the shore thereby.
The fleckless sky meets with the stainless sea :
And wheel-large floats in vast eternity
The moon^upon the flawless crystal sky.
Who by this river first beheld her face?
Whom by this river did the moon first see?
Ah, many generations of his race
Have come, and past into infinity
While she rode lightly in immensity.
I do not know for whom her beams alway
Shine but the river waters flow away !
And one white fleck of cloud them follows too,
Tracing their windings with its pearly hue.
To-night who floats upon the tiny skiff?
From what high tower yearns out upon the night
The dear beloved in the pale moonlight,
Alone, so lonely with the lonely moon?
170 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
In the deep chamber where her hair she braids,
And where the moon oft kissed our arms entwined
Where, oh, we parted lo, she rolls the blind
And inward steps the moon with silent pace :
Or noiseless gazes on her thoughtful face
When busied in the working of her maids.
To each unknown our thoughts go forth to meet.
How would I ride the moonbeams to thy feet!
The wild swans and the geese go sailing by
But rob not any brightness from the sky :
And fishes ripples on the water pleat.
Last night, when dreaming, ah, I seemed to see
That many flowers had fallen by this stream.
And low I moaned, u Already spring will flee
And I can barely see thee in a dream."
The waters bear away the spring ; and now
But scattered stars remain upon the bough.
The moon is sinking to her western hall,
Darkened and drooping in the sea mists' pall.
From thee to me I cannot tell how far !
How many with the moon home wandered are
I cannot tell But as the shadowy trees
Stir on the stream with sighings sad and lone,
So sighs my so'til to thee, my own, my own I
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 171
SPRING IN THE HAREM
By Ts'ui Tao-jung
My husband to the wars has gone
And I a cloak for him would make :
To wrap him from that rugged clime
Lest bitter cold his slumbers break.
But when I tried to cut the words
Of tl Happy Spring " as omen fair,
The chilling breath that winter leaves'*
Benumbed and left me helpless there.
If cold am I, far colder thou
Upon those desert plains and bare !
Thou lookest for thy cloak and I
Of sending it despair.
ft r .&'#' 3*
m A ISF TJ
n m ^ ft is,
Note:
"CUT THK WORDS OF HAPPY SPRING:"
Chinese women are very sensitive to cold, and in cold weather,
before attempting sewing or embroidery, cut out in paper the words
u Happy Spring" to see whether their fingers are in trim for the
work.
172
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
a
m
Bi
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ff
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 173
WHENCE COMES THE SPRING ?
By Po Hsing-chien
If thou wouldst know from whence the Spring is born,
It rises from the virtues of the trees.
Its slow approach to willows first it tells :
Crossing the mountains wakes the sleeping plum :
Entering the snows, it melts their silver flowers:
Ungeals the ice; loosens the water's glass.
At dawn it comes all holy from the East :
At night to East the Dipper's handle turns.
Its balmy breath in vasty space renewed
Comes in rejoicing with a new-born song.
But ere it spreads o'er all its mantle green
It needs the sun to mount the Tower of Pride.
174 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE NEGLECTED BEAUTY
By Wang Ch'ang-ling
Than colors of the peony my raiment is more fair.
The breeze across the Palace lake takes fragrance from
.my hair.
My love is hidden in my breast, a fan conceals my pain,
A clear Moon in an Autumn Night, I wait my Lord in
vain.
A 7ft
ts
"My face is but a moon, and clouded too."
Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, Sc. 2.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 175
LEAVE ME NOT
By Meng Hsiao
You wish to go and yet your robe I hold.
Where are you going tell me, dear, to-day?
Your late returning does not anger me,
But that another steal your heart away.
>F is is * a
.. '.. K ft tt flj *
Note : |@ flj Was the Suburra of Ch'ang-an.
"Alas, poor women! make us but believe,
Being compact of credit, that you love us."
The Comedy of Errors, Act III, Sc. 2.
176
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
$L S$ Hfc $& ^ UJ A
Si
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 177
AN INVITATION
By 'frng Hsien-chih
As at break of daylight chirping
Comes the robin to my sill,
As in Spring the whitethroat twitters
On the eaves so blithe and shrill,
So you hover, never enter,
Keep me \vaiting, waiting still.
When rat-a-tat the drums awake
And sleep the city flees,
I see the garden flaunting fair
With new set chejrry trees.
Last night a myriad blooms were born
Whose tender pink the flushing dawn
Reflects in coloured seas.
I've bought. a goodly store of wine.
The second moon, the Spring Divine
The time to fill the chalice high
Is come : and when we've drunken deep
Will we a moonlight vigil keep.
Yea, till she fade and wax again
Shall you rejoicing here remain.
Notes: Drums awake: There is in Chinese cities no noise of
-wheeled traffic. The soldiers beat their drums at sunset and sunrise.
The second moon: about April, equivalent in temperature in
most parts of China to an'English summer.
"White throat twitters " cf :
"To hear the lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull night. "
Iv'Allegro.
178 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
HOPE
By Li Shang-yin
The dawn is clear : no breath the dew to shake.
And at the window I alone awake.
Amidst the smiling flowers the orioles sing.
If not for me for whom this happy Spring ?
BL
ill ?S
X
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
THE SPRING
By Chang Chung-sur
The geese in lofty flight recross
The Tai-yeh lake :
And in the Emperor's garden all
The new buds break.
The year brings light to every place
If palace or if cot :
But no one knows what colors yet
The spring will take.
179
fit
it id A
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a
180 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE AUTUMN MOON
By Tu Shen-yen
In autumn's sky high floats the silver Moon.
One mourner gazes on the lonely night.
Her bow, now bent into a crescent, soon
Will fanlike open to a globe of light.
Such dazzling purity how many dews
Have tear-like laved? With, ah, what icy thrill
Thy shining, frozen surface still imbrues
The breeze that pierces with a sudden chill
This summer garb of mine ! Such shudders rend
The heart that quivers for the distant friend.
ft m.
A
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lit
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 181
A ABSENCE
By Wei Ch'eng-ch'ing
My eagerness chases the sun and the moon.
I number the days till I reach my home.
The winds of autumn they wait not for me,
But hurry on thither where I would be.
>t> & H ft
ffi H 99 a
ja * *a ft
EHEU FUGACES
X ^ By Wei Ch'eng-ch'ing
Mournfully, mournfully rolls the Long River.
Saddened, ah saddened, the stranger's breast.
The flowers as they fall his fate recall,
As each flutters down in the earth to rest.
m
us at * fit
182 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
il
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tt A
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 183
PIAO MU'S TOMB
By I,iu Chang-ch'ing
The hero remembered the old mother's meal
This tale that I tell happened ages ago
The tomb that he built her the fuel-gatherers know.
Of that Dynasty only the rivers yet flow.
With islet-grown frog-bite the passers adore.
The goatsucker wails on the high wooded shore.
The Spring makes the grasses as verdant, I feel,
As when princely Han Hsin passed by here of yore.
Notes : Han Hsin (ff -flf) when in distress on being given a
meal by Piao Mu said that some day he would recompense her. She
replied that she did it merely from regard to a Prince's descendant,
as Han Hsin was, and needed no recompense. After the foundation
of the Han (??) Dynasty, in the establishment of which Han Hsin's
generalship greatly assisted, he made this tomb to her memory.
The tomb is thirteen miles west of Huai-an Fu (Jf| 3c Hf)- Opposite
to it is the tomb of Han Hsin's own mother, the two being called the
Eastern and Western Graves. The Han Dynasty ruled in Ch'u.
" In the 3rd and 4th moon the goatsucker wails all night until
the dawn with a bitter lamenting."
"By this, lamenting Philomel had ended
The well-tuned warble of her nightly sorrow."
The Rape of L,ucrece, V. 155.
184 GEMS OP CHINESE VERSE
A WINTER SCENE
By Liu Chan g-ch' ing
The daylight far is dawning across the purple hill.
And white the houses of the poor with winter's breath-
ing chill.
The house dog's sudden barking, which hears the
wicket go,
Greets us at night returning through driving gale and
snow.
B M y 111
m
A
Note : Hibiscus Hill is in the Tu-ch'ang district of Nan-k'ang
Prefecture. Its peaks of various sizes look like the petals of a
hibiscus flower.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
THE AUTUMN FESTIVAL
By Wang Chien
The slanting moonbeams light the court ; the crows
roost in their bowers.
Without a sound the chilly dew has wet the cassia
flowers.
Upon the moon to-night so clear all human eyes
must gaze.
But what fond breast will ponder on the coming
Autumn days ?
a
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Jg
It
186 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE ANCIENT PALACE
By Wang Chien
The ancient Palace lies in desolation spread.
The very garden flowers in solitude grow red.
Only some withered dames with whitened hair
remain,
Who sit there idly talking of mystic monarchs dead.
fi M. It it
Note : The Palace : is that of Yang Kuei Fei.
"Time's glory is to calm contending kings . . .
To ruinate proud buildings with thy hours,
And smear with dust their glittering golden towers."
The Rape of I/ucrece, V. 135.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 187
HSI SHIH'S WASHING STONE
By Lou Ying
When Hsi Shih steeped her yarn
Beside the purling brook,
Like mosses on her washing stone
Men's hearts with yearning shook.
But since she went to Ku Su
And thence returned no more,
For whom do Peach and Plum trees bloom
Alonsr the vernal shore ?
m ID H & & st
Ji ff iB B IS A
/ H-^JP it <s . '| (i *
Note: Beauty is departed, leaving but its dream. See other
poems in this volume by Li Po, Tu Fu, etc., on this subject.
On the side of T'u-ch'eng Hill (i&SUO is a stone called
" Hsi Shih's washing yarn stone."
188
By Chang Hsu
We caught mid the wreathing mists
A glimpse of the spanning bridge;
And asked of the fishing boats
By the jetty's western ridge.
" The peach flowers float," they said,
" All day down the gushing stream.,
By the Clear Torrent's side
Is the Peach Flower Cave, we deem/*
Note: The Peach Flower Cave is southwest of T'ao-yuan
Hsien (ft ig ffife) in Ch'ang-te Fu (ft fg flj). To the north of the
cave is the Peach Flower Cascade.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 189
DISAPPOINTMENT
By Hsu Chiin
From the sea the Swallow
Flying to his nest
Sees the silver sunlight
Sloping to the West;
Homes of the Five Nobles
Noting from afar,
Where the Gates of Refuge
Ought to stand ajar.
But, ah ! those halls are barred and fast :
No footstep enters there.
The eastern wind has overcast
The bloom it brought to bear !
n $? i
!f& 15 M^ H Pr
PI 1 iU $ A. S'J
Notes: The scene described is on the River Ch'ien ($f), a
branch of the Wei River (}f|) in Shensi. The halls look in the
sunset distance like clouds. The East wind has slain the first flower
(hope) that its caress opened.
190 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
FALLAX PUER
By Tsui Kuo-fu
The golden steps, ah ! I had swept so clean !
The frost I brushed away was white as snow.
He came not. To my room I entering
The curtains drew, and touched the lute's sweet string.
To see the Autumn Moon were double woe !
Note : The Autumn Moon reminds me of being a " fan in
autumn" i.e., discarded.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 191
THE TOWER
By Yang Shih-ngo
The huai trees nodding blossoms the city girdle round.
The night rain from the hills has brought the river's
bubbling sound.
In Autumn's gale from sheltered ways each horse and
cart has fled.
Alone on this high tower I feel ( the ghosts of nations
dead.
3 ?fi 111 w f Jt
Note : cf. I/ongfellow's " The Town of Prague."
192 GEMS OF CHINESE; VERSE
ANCHORED AT NIGHT
By Tu Mu
The mist half hides the water chill. The moon-lit
sand gleam'd dim.
At night we anchored on the Huai beside a hostel
trim.
The singing girls know nothing of a fallen nation's
shame.
Their lay of "Love amidst the Flowers" across the
river came.
jfc >F ft C B IS
m a: ^
Note : ^ ^f Professional siugiug girls.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 193
REGRETS
By Chao Ku
Upon the River Tower alone how sorrowful arn I !
The moonbeams join the water ; the water meets the
sky.
All those who came this Moon to view, ah ! whither
are they gone ?
This scene appears to me like one of ages long gone
' _ ' by. ' / - ' - ' '. - :
n
Note:-
194 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE BRAZEN TOWER
By Liu T'ing-ch'i
The Brazen Tower looks down upon the lone aban-
doned grave.
The dust of Tsao Tsao's heir reposes by the river's
wave.
Towards this sunset gazing their glory we deplore.
A dream of their sweet dancing girls, fond memory,
haunts us more.
m
in ^ H M *& &
a s i* R * A
Note : The Lord of Wei is Tsao Tsao.
Yuan-Ling is the grave of the Heir Apparent
'Whose part in all the pomp that fills
The circuit of the summer hills,
Is that his grave is green."
Bryant : "June.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 195
E -
Jfc
196 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
YOUR GARDEN FLOWER
(A Serenade)
By Wang Piao
How early to your Garden coir.es the Spring!
How all your Woods are filled with Flowers fair !
Like guards they smile upon their Mistress dear,
And sweetly stoop to brush my Lady's hair.
The Earth is happy in your near abode.
Your bounteous Heaven scatters rain and dew.
The Butterflies come thronging to your Light.
And birds at evening wake from dreams of you.
I inly feel your Sun my heart has sought;
And yearn amid your lofty Clouds to soar.
What other place appears not dark beside
The Peach and Plum trees leading to your Door !
Note: " The Peach and Plum trees," i.e., the lilia mista rosis.
*' The air hath starved the roses in her cheeks,
And pinched the lily tincture of her face."
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV, Sc. 2.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 197
* a
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a
198 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
AN AUTUMN NIGHT .
By Ch'ien Ch'i
The Milky Way is shining as bright as pearling frost.
The water lilies' fragrance in northern winds is lost.
Beside a lonely lamp she weaves, and hides her love
away.
Her tears she wipes to note how slow the clock drips
out the day.
The moonlit clouds are floating like mist before the
eaves.
The wild goose flaps, as cawing the crow his roosting
leaves.
Ah ! what young wife is working a love bird on her
loom?
An inlaid silken screen conceals her inner sleeping
room.
Beside the lucent window she hears the falling leaves.
Alas for her whose solitude a lover's absence grieves !
Note : "The clock drips out the day," i.e., a water clock.
"Oh, thou, that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless."
Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act V, Sc. 4.
"But my kisses bring again, bring again;
Seals of love, but sealed in vain, sealed in vain."
Measure for Measure, Act IV, Sc. 1.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 199
KOON DREAM
By Kao Shih
Cool rides the Moon in Night's clear space.
My floating skiff is aimless still.
Dream-lost in wastes of waves and wind
With Autumn I reclothe the Hill.
That Autumn trembles to the Fall
Makes grief the wanderer's bosom thrill.
m f& a a
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ft
200 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
By Kao Shih
In glory Kings have flourished here :
And wise men came to view their state.
Behold ! the vista of the years
A ruined tower recalls their fate !
Throughout all Space the Winds of Woe
The ripened Grass lay desolate.
r t
1=1
Note : The above refers to the capital city of Liang Hsiao Wang 1
Of the Han Dynasty ($| ft ^ %) called later Ti-ch'iu (jg J) in
Houan Province.
"Whereby I see that Time's the king of men,
He's both their parent, and he is their grave."
Pericles, Act II, Sc. 3.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
jfc HE #
B
A
201
a
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202 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
RUSTIC FELICITY
By Chu Kuang I
My little farm fivescore of silk trees grows
And acres five of grain in ordered rows.
Thus having food and clothing and to spare
My bounty often with my friends I share.
The Summer brings the ku-mi rice so fine ;
Chrysanthemums in Autumn spice the wine.
My jolly spouse is glad my friends to see:
And my young son obeys me readily.
At eve I dawdle in the garden fair
With elms and willows shaded everywhere.
When, wine-elated, Night forbids me stay,
Through door and window grateful breezes play.
Bright, shoal and plain I see the Milky Way ;
And high and low the Bear o'er Heaven sway.
As yet intact t some Bottles bear their Seal.
And shall to-morrow their contents reveal ?
Notes: " Wine.-elated J" The Chinese, although a sober race,
are fond of a little conviviality at times and to desipere in Icco. In
this connection I remember a Japanese gentleman relating the tale
of an assault commencing: "We were at the Japanese Hotel, all
getting very happily drunk together." So Horace Carmen 4.11,
Est mihi nonum superantis annum Plenus Albani cadus.
"Ku-mi:" An ancient kind of rice, species unknown. The
amiotator says it is J|$ ft jfc.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 203
iffl ti
JH
=t m
204 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE AMAZON CORPS
By Wu Pi
A training scheme a stranger brought
Which used would make you Lord of Wu.
The General was a lovely maid,
Her helm all gold and jewels inlaid,
As she the Marshal's baton swayed,
And told them what to do.
Her soldiers all were ladies fair,
And as they turned them round,
Like wind and rain about their waist
Their jewelry rattled. When in haste
To sound of drum the army raced,
Like snowy petals o'er the ground
The powder flew ; and pearling dew
Ran down in rivers rare.
They wish to laugh, but do not dare
Lest they should lose their heads
You say that this is but a dream ;
But if this Sun-tze 's clever scheme
Were used again to-day, I deem
We'd sleep safe in our beds.
Note: (History). Sun Wu called upon the Prince of Wu
about matters of military strategy. The Prince sent out the ladies
of the Palace, whom Sun-tze divided into two companies, making
the Prince's best-beloved concubine their leader. The women at
first took it all as a joke, but were reprimanded. As they kept on
sniggering Sun-tze had two of the leaders executed in the cause of
Wu. The Prince seeing from this that Sun could handle soldiers
made him a General. He conquered Hupeh, etc.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
205
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JR tt
Jb
ti:
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206 GEMS OF CHINESF VERSE
THE PEARL (Memoriam)
By Tu Ku-yuan
To turn us back to Natural purity
Is, after all, the highest State.
And for this cause the Pearl was thrown away
An offering to Fate.
For it had lost its Purity to serve
As mere adornment to a Prince's car.
But when it plunged again within the Gulf
Such use no more could mar.
Had not a Fairy Serpent spat it forth,
What hope it could regain its element ?
It sunlike sank where Western Deeps reflect
The starry Firmament.
So far it went not all its force its own
Who covets never can with such compare
To honor frugal virtue would you learn ?
Grasp Wisdom's jewels rare!
Notes: g> Jg J|: Return to Ho-pu, i.e., Pakhoi, where many
pearls are found. To return to the place of origin.
Eft H &: Went down with the Sun, i.e., entered the Western
Heaven : died.
# M JE : After all had no feet, i.e., could not move by itself,
i.e., needed the divine volition to th/rw it.
As is also recorded of a king of Ceylon, the Prince of Sui once
saw a wounded serpent, which he cured. The serpent, in gratitude
gave him a large pearl, hence called the Sui Hou Pearl, which he
attached to his chariot as a lamp. In a time of famine he was be-
sought to sell it to buy food for his people, but he declined.
When numbers had died of starvation and there was no food to be
purchased, he threw away the Pearl as an offering to Fate. The story
seems to be connected with Buddhist legend, and to be applied
here to some one withdrawing from mundane favors.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 207
THE WATERS OF E
By Lo Pin-wang
From this spot the Prince rose and fled.
The hair on the assassin 's head
Raised his hat. Though the ancients are dead,
Still chill flows the water with dread.
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ft
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A E
CONTENT
By Ho Chih-chang
The Lord of All to us is all unknown.
And yet these Woods and Springs must
Some One own.
Let us not murmur if our Wine we Buy
In our own Purse have we Sufficiency.
A
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208
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE FISHERMAN
By Liao Tsung-yuan
Amid the western hills there slept an aged fisherman.
At dawn he lit a bamboo fire, drew river water wan.
And as the mist clouds rolled away the light showed
no one there.
The mountain torrents flowed in green ; his whoop was
free from care.
One glance around the sky he gave; pushed off to
middle stream.
The mystic caves retain him not ; the clouds his pilots
seem.
& lit H ffl * S A
tt # - SK Hi * iH
i * ?c R T ^ J*
Note: ^C 7J " Or-hitn" an onomatopoeia.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 209
THE DEBAUCH
By Wang Chi
Fill up this day the sorrow-drugging bowl !
What matter though we drown the brighter soul ?
With wine o'ercome when all our fellows be,
Can I alone sit in sobriety?
ft B &
tt
A
210 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
BEAUTY IN DISGRACE
By Wang Ch'ang-litig
At dawn I sweep my room and see the Palace gates
set wide.
A fan neglected, to and fro I waft from side to side.
The night-chilled crow is lovelier than I, once held so
fair.
His face reflects the glory of the Sun that rises there.
B.
* ffl
fcfe Jpg
^ <ll
H i
The crow may bathe his coal-black wings in mire,
And unperceived fly with the filth away :
But if the like the snow-white swan desire,
The stain upon his silver down will stay."
The Rape of I^ucrece, V. 145.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 21 1
LONGING
By Wang Ch'ang-ling
Within the Western Quarter upon this lofty tower
The beacon fire lies ready against the fated hour.
Across the yellow twilight upon its sea-breeze wings
The stir of coming Autumn its melancholy brings.
Above the Pass and o'er the Hills the lonely Moon is
bright ;
And thrills to hear my homesick flute cry wailing
through the night.
The thought of our sweet chamber ; the longing and
the smiles,
Why should they come to vex me across so many
miles ?
m w x
DC
212 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE PAINS OF IX)VE
By Chia Chih
The yellow willow waves above; the grass is green
below.
The peach and pear tree blossoms in massed fragrance
grow.
The East Wind does not bear away the sorrow at my
heart.
Spring's growing days but lengthen out my still
increasing woe.
W
L
H
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
213
THE FALLEN GARDEN
By Chia Chih
About the Garden flies at dusk an aimless crow or two.
A house or two are scattered round as far as eye can
view.
The trees not knowing all have gone, that they alone
are left,
Their Flowers with returning Spring as formerly renew.
H
A
' And round about his home, the glory
That blushed and bloomed,
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed."
Poe : The Haunted Palace.
214 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
PARTING
By Ch'ang Chien
Bright blow the flowers, the willow weeps beside the
river clear.
Within the grove a twig is stirred by zephyrs breath-
ing near.
If on this bank, amid such scenes fond sorrow fills my
heart,
What grief must murder all my breast on Yonder
Shore to part !
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58 : a: ffi us j fit
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 215
tit Jfci. <j
U4 W V
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A.
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216 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE HALL OF SILENCE
By Ch'ang Chien
Where the sun's eye first
Peers above the pines,
On the ancient temple
Early daylight shines.
To retirement guiding
Leads the winding way :
Round the Cell of Silence
Flowers and Foliage stray.
Hark ! the birds rejoicing
In the mountain light !
Like one's dim reflection
On a pool at night
Lo ! the heart is melted
Wav'ring out of sight.
All is hushed to silence.
Harmony is still.
The bell's low chime alone
Whispers round the hill.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 217
IN MONGOLIA
Wang Chih-huan
The Yellow River rises far from fleecy cloudland tossed.
Mid peaks so high our tiny town to sight is almost
lost.
Why need my Mongol flute bewail the elm and willow
missed ?
Beyond the Yii-men Pass the breath of Spring has
never crossed.
- a
TT*
3E
Notes : The Yellow River is supposed to rise in the Kun-lun
Mountains.
" Elm and willow : " The flute complains that the time of
plucking green (cf. the translator's "Stealing Green at Pakhoi "),
the Spring Festival, has come but the spring verdure does not
appear in time in this northern climate. A sprig of willow is
given to departing friends.
The Ch'iang are a tribe of Ouigours.
218 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE FLUTE THAT WAILS BY NIGHT
By Li I
Below the Hui-lo Peak the sand shines clear and white
as snow.
Around Shou-chiang city like frost the moonbeams
flow.
Who blows yon wailing reedy flute whose echo shrills
my ear,
And tunes the warrior's heart all night to dream of
home so dear?
5;n M n.
Notes : Hui-lo Peak is 130 miles west of ^C f^j Jff in Shansi.
M ^ A reed flute.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 219
YANG KUEI-FEI IN DISGRACE
By Li I
With freshened dew the flowers are damp in Spring-
tide's fragrant bowers.
In Chao-yang Court the sound of songs disturbs the
moon-lit hours.
As slow as if it held the sea drips on the water clock.
Its tedious dripping seems to me the long drawn night
to mock.
Note : ^ R : The residence of the Empress when out of favor.
"Though woe be heavy, yet it seldom sleeps,
And they that watch see time how slow it creeps."
The Rape of Ivucrece, V. 225.
220 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE DULLNESS OF THE HAREM
By Ssu Ma Li
The willows interlacing the gilded mansion hide.
At dawn the oriole sorrow trills through all the Palace
wide.
The Flowers from year to year that fall what mortal
eye can view
Still carried with their Spring away upon the moat's
dull tide?
ft A
Note : The Flowers are the maidens of the Harem.
Spring typifies Youth and Love.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 221
THE RUINED CITY
By I,iu Yu-hsi
By hills enclosed, surrounded by its ancient country
fair,
Revealing when the tide recedes its desolation bare,
The moon that o'er the river Huai climbed up the
Eastern Tower
Still comes to overpeer its wall in midnight's lonely
hour.
'ft
$J fl" g? fe
* * nt a
Note : H Eg $ is west of gg 3 /ft (Nanking).
"Rude fragments now
I/ie scattered where the shapely column stood.
Her palaces are dust"
Cowper : The Task.
222 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
TEMPUS EDAX
By Liu Yu-hsi
Beside the bridge of Chu-ch'io wild flowers and grasses
grow.
Along the ancient pathway the evening sunbeams flow.
The swallows that once circled round the halls of
lordly pride
Now twitter round the humble homes these later ages
know.
P
fH A 9 H Jft
Note ^A * X JfiT Itf : * 9 ft A.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
THE WIND OF AUTUMN
By Liu Yu-hsi
The Autumn Wind from whence is hither borne?
The geese in flocks it hisses forth in scorn.
At dawn our garden trees before it fall.
The lonely Wanderer hears it first of all.
223
ft
ft 31
THE STORK TOWER
By Wang Chih-huan
Round the day-hiding hill the sunbeams pour.
The Son of Sorrows melts into the Sea.
But would we wish the Farthest Verge to see,
There still is left to mount One Story more.
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224 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
DESIRE
By Li Tuan
The blinds I raised ; with joy the New Moon saw.
The steps descended, eager to adore.
My whispered prayer might not be heard of men.
The North Wind's fingers at my girdle tore.
if
f A
Note : Compare :
" And Venus loves the whisper of plighted youth and Maid,
In April's ivory moonlight beneath the chestnut's shade."
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 225
SNOW ON CHUNG-NAN HILLS
By Tsu Yung
Dawn-shaded peaks of Chung-nan Hills their lovely
forms display.
Their mass of snow amidst the clouds seems floating
far away.
The woods stand out against the sky in colours clear
and bright,
Yet stretching o'er the city's morn the chilly hands of
night.
226
SU'S PLEASAUNCE
By Tsu Yung
To this retired pleasaunce when I rove
The wish for solitude in me upwells.
Before the portals high yon mountain swells.
The placid Lee reflects the garden's grove.
Last winter's snow the bamboo brakes retain.
Dark glooms the court ere shades of evening fall.
I sit alone to hear the birds that call
Beyond the pale of men the Spring again.
B'J
ilill
a-
fir
Note: j$j ill is Chung-nan Hill.
$S 7K An affluent of the Tung- ting L,ake.
POKMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
227
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228
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 229
TIEN CHU TEMPLE
By T'ao Han.
With tangled firs and pines the cave is hid.
Around the western hill a pathway creeps.
One lofty crag is outlined on the sky.
The temple towers are hung in airy deeps.
On dawn-flushed cliff reclines the Buddhas' home.
Mid massed rocks high balconies appear.
To birds and monkeys Night lone silence brings.
The bell's deep booming chills the clouds with fear.
The peak's green shadow tints the lake-borne Moon.
The gorge- wind's song the torrent's music mars.
\My soul expands above the realms of air
And hangs suspended with eternal stars.
The morrow's dawn yet other prospect brings.
I wake to see the eastern bounds long drawn.
Waves stir the oily surface of the lake
As o'er pale seas the darkness glows to morn.
The old Immortals' traces still are here.
To us lies clear the Pathway they impressed.
And as my soul harks back to ages gone
I, darkly groping, feel them in my breast.
g: * & Wl &
Immortals: Ko and Hsu (S ff)', students of Taoism, who
retired from the world to this temple, which is five miles west of
Hangchow.
230
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
ft A
?
a
ii
m.
ix.
m
' And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
And where thy footstep gleams."
Poe.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 231
THE MAID I MET ON KUEI-YANG BRIDGE
By Sung Chili-wen
'Twas dawn and the sprays from the river
And mist had enmoistened the air.
The flowers and the willows of Springtime
By the Bridge breathed their essences rare.
On a white horse with clear golden saddle
Came riding a beauty so fair
Of the daughters of Ch'in must she be:
Such grace can come only from there.
The locks that her mirror reflecteth
Her envious handmaids adore.
That caress to her babe my too tender heart swayed.
She passed. I shall see her no more !
The passions of dissolute loving
My true heart has never obeyed.
Yet I sigh in my cold lonely chamber
When I think of that beautiful maid.
I sigh in my desolate chamber,
And dream of that beautiful maid.
Notes : Ancient Poetry:
^ & ft A "In Yen and Chao are many fair women.
%Mln'% The faces of the fairest are like jade."
And again :
H ft ^ $1 PS " In the South East the sunrise appears
H8 3% ^ A & The mansion of Ch'in to invade.
%&~&'RiC A beautiful daughter has he;
g & H Ifc And Ix>-fu the name of the maid. ' '
232 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
A I nit P? *vW* %-tI
I < ^ JC wi 3x
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 233
THE HUANG HO LOU
By Ts'ui Hao
The sage of old has flown away upon a Yellow Crane,
And left its Tower alone to mark where mortals saw
him last.
The Yellow Crane once flown away it never comes
again.
Long years have past yet white and-ghast the empty
clouds remain.
Mid winding groves of Hanyang's trees the stream
pellucid flows.
On Parrot Isle the fragrant grass in wild luxuriance
grows.
My village from my gazes the dying sunbeams part.
The river hid the mist amid calls shadows o'er my
heart.
Notes: The Huang Ho Lou (Tower of the Yellow Crane) is at
Wuchang, built on the trace of the Yellow Crane. The story goes
that when Fei Wen-shu, called Tze-an (R 3t H: -friSc), became a
spirit and flew away on the 'back of the Yellow Crane, it rested here,
leaving the print of its foot. The Yellow Crane is an emblem of
becoming a spirit, i.e., of decease; whence the melancholy ending
of the poem. Parrot Isle (Ying-wu Chou) is opposite to Wuchang;
and is so called by the people in memory of Mi-henp (jjjj |6> who
was slain by Huang Tsu ($K ffi) and buried there because he wrote
the " Parrot Lays." (" Parrot " in Chinese is used in the sense of
the " gift of tongues.")
Hao : The name of the author means " Radiant." So the name
of the Welsh poet " Taliessin " means " Radiant Brow "; and Byron
speaks of Apollo ' ' with brow all radiant from the fight"
234 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE HILLS OF SPRING
By Yii Liang-shih
The Hills of Spring, the Hills of Spring so many
pleasures dight
That pure enjoyment leaves me here oblivious of Night.
Within the water that my hands scoop up the Moon
embowers ;
And all my clothes are fragrant with the heavy scent
of flowers.
Although the mood aye urges me, still verseless I
remain.
I wish to go ; but, ah ! I quit this scented scene with
pain.
To see from whence the bell's sweet chime, I south-
ward gaze, and lo !
The bell tower hidden deeply in yon verdant sea below.
ill
*.
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 235
ft
B
a m
236 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
THE AUTUMN SEEN FROM YOYANG TOWER
/ By Chang Chim
The crows are flocking homeward all chilled in
twilight's close.
Upon the Autumn gale the geese their passage wing
away.
Across the tinted waters there floats the orb of day ;
And flickers on the river the sunset's hazy ray.
With autumn flowers of madder the whitened islets
sway.
Through scanty leaves all red the rich persimmon
glows.
How flat and damp Changsha this temperature shows,
Where yet October's air is braved with summer
clothes.
Note : In autumn the flowers of the madder are white. The
persimmon ripens in the Fall, and the leaves assume a reddish
brown colour. (This fruit in outward appearance resembles a
tomato.)
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 237
A RUIN
By Han Wu
Upon the yard looks in the placid moon
Down float the petals of the wild pear trees.
I gaze adown the vacant steps alone.
The swing sways with the motion of the -breeze.
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A I<OVER'S DREAM
Anonymous
Oh, drive the golden orioles
From off our garden tree !
Their warbling broke the dream wherein
My lover smiled to me.
*r
Note : The golden oriole is the equivalent of the nijjhtfngale
(the " night- warbler "), the Tereus of passion.
"The oriole should build and tell
His love-tale, close beside my cell."
Brvant.
238
GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
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POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS
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240 GEMS OF CHINESE; VERSE
LENORE
Author Unknown
The cocks crow all together.
The air is full of frost.
I see your sword and bundle
On either shoulder tossed.
Like jackals and like tigers
They chase you from the town.
Before our speech is ended
The white dust settles down.
In loneliness and sorrow
Our village sees me lie.
My life for you I keep alive,
Yet easier far to die.
Your child beside the pillow
With baby wailings cries.
Though much I would prefer to die
Yet here my duty lies.
My ornaments and silken robes
All now I lay a-down
And bid our ancient neighbor
Go sell them in the tovm.
But in your journeys vex you not
For those thus left behind.
I sooner were in pieces torn
Than change my loving mind.
But if you live, your duty do
In yon wild Tsaidam snows;
POEMS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 241
And if you die, in Hades dim
Your peaceful eyelids close.
Wait but till nineteen autumns past
Our child to manhood grown
Has left his school to wander forth
To win his bread alone.
Then like the clewdrop on the bough
I cannot long remain
While your dark locks are turned to white
Upon yon desert plain.
The dawn breaks on the City
The horns of gathering cry.
The misty moon is dimly seen
Amid the murky sky.
Amidst the chilly gloom a lamp
In lonely darkness gleams.
The cricket chirrups by the door.
Some spirit present seems.
A rank and sudden smell of gore
Rises on every side.
I shriek to see a dreadful ghost.
Ah, what may this betide?
Its hand holds forth a hollow skull
As there it standeth grim.
Denied with dust and bloody stains
It loometh vaguely dim.
" Come in, come in before me.
Indeed I do not dread !
242 GEMS OF CHINESE VERSE
And thou indeed my husband art,
What proof to prove the dead ? "
In sudden gust of darkling wind
His blood-stained garments sway.
u Alas ! that garment clothed you, love,
What time you went away ! "
" I know you are hera.
Why come you so late ? "
In gloom the lamp fails ;
The rope from the beam
Hangs quivering and straight.
" In my eyes is the gleam.
In my ears is the roar
Of the breakers that burst
On a long sandy shore.
When came you in, Love ?
Oh, how flew you here ?
My spirit now comes, L*>ve.
I follow anear,
Your white bones to view in
That desert so drear."
Note: There is a poem called "William and Helen "by Sir
Walter Scott which was inspired by a translation of Burger's
" Iveonore " and the subject matter of which is very similar to the
above.
A similar subject occurs in the Border Ballads, and in Ossian.
PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL
GOVERNMENT
By P. E. Bible, Hangchow
60 cts. per copy
As China has recently adopted a republican form of government, the
publication of this book just now is timely. The book aims to give the
student a knowledge of the principles and form of government of the United
States after which the Republic of China is modelled.
The main part of the work is prefaced with chapters introductory to
the study of the Constitution. A brief historical review of the discovery of
America and the founding of the original colonies is followed by the
Declaration of Independence. I/ocal, State and National Government as
found in the United States is explained to give a better understanding of the
Constitution. Then the Constitution is taken up, section by section, with
commentary on the text. The language used in the commentary is simple,
and the definitions and explanations help the student to overcome the
difficult law terms. The Anglo-Chinese glossary, prepared by Mr. K. K,
Woo, will be found a further help along this line. 4
H25
Commercial Rress, Publishers
Gems of Chinese Verse
Commercial Press, Ltd.
All rights reserved
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A Modern English-Chinese Dictionary
1,600 Pages Price $2.50 Per Copy
The present' work is designed to meet the needs nofc
only of teachers and students but also of business men. It
contains the following eight main features:
1. The present work consists of a careful selection fr6m
various sources, and is not a mere translation of a single bdok.
2. All the English words are clearly explained both in
Chinese and in English, so that students can find no difficulty
in catching the shades of meaning of words.
3. Every word is fully re-spelt with diacritically-
marked letters to indicate its correct pronunciation.
4. A ' 'Guide to Pronunciation" with a careful Chinese
translation of the same is prefixed to the work.
5. A large number of newly-invented words have been
included to amplify the vocabulary, and each of them has
been given its suitable Chinese equivalent.
6. Thousands of phrases in common use have been
inserted in connection with the words that principally compose
them.
7. A copious list of appendices' of abbreviations,
foreign quotations, pronouncing vocabularies of proper names,
etc., etc., is added to enhance the usefulness of the work.
8. Pictures are inserted here and there to help illustrate
the meaning of words.
Apart from the above-mentioned features and a number
of others, we may further add that never before has so use-
ful a book been found in so small a volume and sold at so
cheap a price. The book now offered to the public is no doubt
a convenient, practicable, and inexpensive addition to any
student's library.
F43 The Commercial Press, Limited, Publishers
B
University of California
SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388
Return this material to the library
which it was borrowed.
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