Tune: Partridge Sky   Yan Qi Dao (1038-1110)  江紹倫譯

With your colourful sleeeve you pour me wine again and again
Those were the days when we sang and drank not caring to think
You danced like willows keeping the moon in the tower
You sang in tune wih the breezes stirred up by the peach blossom fan

Ever since we parted I’ve been recalling our togetherness
Time and again I dreamed of being with you
Tonight I gaze at you in candle light it seems
Being together with you is only possible in my dreams

Tune: Silk-Washing Stream, Broken Form      Li Qing Zhao (1084-1156)  江紹倫譯Following extended illness grey hair on my temples easily seen
In my sick bed I see the waning moon through the window screen
Why boil water burning twigs with cardouron seeds
For taking medicine no need

On pillows poetry books are best placed for convenient reading
Outside my door the scenery is best when raining
I enjoy my neighbour’s wines and caring
Osmanthus flowers

Tune: Magnolia       Zhang Xian (990-1078)  江紹倫譯

Dragon Boat glade men of Wu compete to gain speed
On swings fair maidens move gayly to and fro
Women picking vegetables delightfully forget to leave the  mead
Treading on green fields folks freely come and go

With clouds gone the distant hills appear in pale hue
With flutes mute silence returns to the garden pool
Bathed in crystal moonlight the middle court is still
Catkins dance in great numbers leaving not a shadow in view

Tune: Songs of Immortals     Zhang  Xian (990-1078)   江紹倫譯

Cup in hand I listen to parts of the Water Song
Waking from mid-day intemporance sorrows keep me tipsy on
Whence will spring return now it is sent away
Watching the mirrow at dusk
I’m alarmed how time had passed
To recall bygone events is but in vain

On the poolside sands a pair of love birds perch happily
Freed from clouds the moon induces flowers to play with dancing shadows

Indoor lights are veiled by multiple layers of screens
No steady wind
The night feels serene
Tomorrow fallen red petals in paths will be seen

Fisherman’s Song       Zhu Dun Ru (1081-1159)    江紹倫譯
Tune: Happy events are near

I leave the world behind with a shake of head
Choosing no particular day or moth to be sober or inebriate
I make a living fishing in straw hat and cloak
Wearing frost or braving snow is but habitual

At night when winds lull my fishing line is quiet
The crescent moon appears high and low a duet
Where sky and water coverge in a thousand li
A lone swan appears and vanishes as it pleases

Old Fisherman          Liu Zhong Yuan（773—819）江紹倫譯     

An old fisherman moors by the west cliff for the night
At dawn he boils the stream water on a bamboo fire
By sunrise the mist gone he is out of sight
Creaking the oars he enters a world of green admire
Down midstream he turns to view the horizon far away
On cliff tops free clouds chase one another so gay

歲歲金河復玉關
朝朝馬策與刀環
三春白雪歸青塚
萬里黃河繞黑山

Soldier’s Lament                    (Tang) Liu Zhong Yong                     江紹倫譯

Year after year I tour between the Gold River and the Jade Pass
Day in day out my long knife in hand I urge my steed fast
After three years of snow many comrades end up in graves with overgrown grass
The Yellow River flows ten thousand li girding the Black Mountain a huge land mass

懷君屬秋夜
散步詠涼天
空山松子落
幽人應未眠

To Master Qiu in an autumn night                 Wei Ying Wu (736 – ???) 江紹倫譯

I pine for you this autumn night
Strolling alone I sing of the cold season in rhyme
High up in the empty mountain pine cones solitarily fall
You my eremite friend will not be awake for long

有生必有死  早終非命促
昨暮同爲人  今旦在鬼錄
魂氣散何之  枯形寄空木
嬌兒索父啼  良友撫我哭
得失不複知  是非安能覺
千秋萬歲後  誰知榮與辱
但恨在世時  飲酒不得足

《Elegy》Tao Qian (365-427)      江紹倫譯

To live is to accept death in peace
The day will come when I last breath
Last night we are together as man
This morn we are in Ghost Registrar’s hand
Whither I wonder will go my soul
In a decaying box my body is a load
My children seek their father in grief
Friends see my corps cry and heave
Loss or gain I no longer care
Rights and wrongs not my affair
After ten thousand years have passed away
Who will know my glory or disgrace
I regret while living still
Mellow brews I fail to drink my fill

問訊湖邊春色
重來又是三年
東風吹我過湖船
楊柳絲絲拂面

世路如今已慣
此心到處悠然
寒光亭下水連天
飛起沙鷗一片

Tune: Moon Over the West River                  Zhang Xiao Xiang (1132-1169) 江紹倫譯

Is the lakeside spring scenery still the same
It’s been three years now I’ve come again
Thanks to east wind my boat crossed the lake at ease
Strands and strands of willow caress my face like breeze

I am used to life as it floats high or low
My heart is at peace where’er I go
Water merges sky beneath the Pavilion Cold Light
Where a flock of water birds take flight