《落日》      《Sunset》

落日在簾鉤  The setting sun hangs on my screen hook
溪邊春事幽  Early spring affairs flow in murmuring brook
芳菲緣岸圃  Riverbanks green emanating fragrance sweet
樵爨倚灘舟  Woodcutters rest on mooring boats to eat
啅雀爭枝墜  Birds bicker for falling sprigs
飛蟲滿院遊  Swarming all over the courtyard are ephemerides
濁醪誰造汝  It matters not how liqueurs are distilled
一酌散千憂  One sip will dispel hundreds of cares to nil  Continue reading →

《To Hermit Wei》

人生不相見  How often in life we fail to meet
動如參與商  Moving like Orion and Scorpion on separate feet
今夕復何夕  This our night by lucky feats
共此燈燭光  Together by candlelight we sit
少壯能幾時  How many youthful days can we count
鬢發各已蒼  Before grey hairs on our heads mount Continue reading →

《No Kin to Say Adieu》

寂寞天寶後  Ever since the Tianbao Rebellion in the last reign
園廬但蒿藜  Homes and gardens deserted pigweeds thrive in rain
我裏百餘家  For the hundred families in my hometown
世亂各東西  All had fled the confusion east or west bound
存者無消息  Among those living no news is available
死者為塵泥  The dead had become dust and mud not noble
賤子因陣敗  Defeated at the front I have returned Continue reading →

《客亭》《Passing Lodge》

秋窗猶曙色  Tis an autumn dawn outside the window
落木更天風  Through the naked trees whipping winds blow
日出寒山外  From beyond the cold hills the sun rises
江流宿霧中  Amid lingering fogs the river meanders nigh
聖朝無棄物  Our Imperial Court abandons no one resourceful
老病已成翁  Sickness and aging have made me unable
多少殘生事  What else could be important in a life dwindling
飄零似轉蓬  Everything drifts willing or unwilling Continue reading →

《無題》  《No Title》

自古英雄多好色  All heroes love beauties since old
好色未必皆英雄  Not all beauty lovers are mighty and bold
吾輩雖非英雄漢  Though a hero I am not
唯有好色似英雄  I love beauties as a hero ought Continue reading →

《Mountain Rocks》Han Yu

山石犖確行徑微  The mountain path is narrow between jagged rocks craggy
黃昏到寺蝙蝠飛  Bats flutter overhead as I arrive at the temple toward eve
升堂坐階新雨足  After the stairs I sit down my feet are wet with rain
芭蕉葉大梔子肥  Broad leaf banana trees grow beside fat elecampane
僧言古壁佛畫好  A monk shows me the Buddha murals on an ancient wall
以火來照所見稀  He illuminates the art work magnificent and tall
鋪床拂席置羹飯  My bed is prepared and a meal is carefully set
疏糲亦足飽我饑  The coarse rice and vegetables keep me adequately fed Continue reading →