得即高歌失即休    多愁多恨亦悠悠
今朝有酒今朝醉    明日愁来明日愁

Relaxation                                江紹倫譯

Sing your accomplishments accept any failure practically
And dispel whatever sorrow or hate for tranquillity
Fine brews on hand drink your fill today
Let all possible worry to come next day

盡道豐年瑞        豐年事若何
長安有貧者        為瑞不宜多

Snow                                       江紹倫譯

They say abundant snow forebodes a bumper year
What good is bumper harvest if distribution unfair
As hungry folks linger within capital walls
Let’s pray heavy snow does not oft fall

簾外雨潺潺  春意闌珊
羅衾不耐五更寒
夢里不知身是客    一晌貪歡

獨自莫憑欄  無限江山   
别时容易見時難

流水落花春去也    天上人間

<Waves Refining Sands>              江紹倫譯

Drizzles patter outside my enclosing curtains
Spring feelings abound
Near dawn my quilt cannot warm my chills
I dreamed my captive life cast aside
For a moment of delight

Whence looking o’er these railings I should not solitarily stand
To reminisce about my lost empire its boundless land
‘Tis easier to part than yearning for re-union again

Gone are the happy days with withered flowers perishing flow
Same on high yonder as among man I know

煙籠寒水月籠沙      夜泊秦淮近酒家
商女不知亡國恨      隔江猶唱後庭花

Mooring on River Qinhuai                                 江紹倫譯

Mist veils the frigid water while moonlight veils the bar
I moor on the Qinhuai River at dusk to sample the bars
Songstresses bewail not their motherland in defeat
They sing to glorify the new ruler their voice peak

破卻千家作一池      不栽桃李種薔薇
薔薇花落秋風起      荊棘滿庭君始知

Temple Garden                                  江紹倫譯

Against a thousand designs a single garden built
Only roses are cultivated fruit trees nil
Whence roses wither petals follow autumn winds fly
A garden of thorns remain consequences you abide

松下問童子                言師採藥去
只在此山中                雲深不知處

Visiting a Hermit                    江紹倫譯

I asked your whereabouts from your house boy in pine wood
He said you were out collecting herbs in good mood
You are surely somewhere in these hills
Where clouds roam who knows where you seek as you will

殘陽西入崦   茅屋訪孤僧
落葉人何在   寒雲路幾層
獨敲初夜磬   閑倚一枝藤
世界微塵裡   吾寧愛與憎

Hermitage Amid Green Vines    江紹倫譯

The setting sun disappears behind tall mountains west
I arrived at this empty hut looking for my Buddhist friend in earnest
Where would he be in a world of fallen leaves
Up clouds yonder how many layers of footpaths I must weave

Alone he tolls vespers at dusk
On a cane he leisurely strolls not fast
In this hustle bustle world nothing could be too important
Away from love and hate my mind is at peace self-sufficient

秋叢繞舍似陶家      遍繞籬邊日漸斜
不是花中偏愛菊      此花開盡更無花

Chrysanthemum                                 江紹倫譯       

Autumn mums adorn my cottage as they did Tao’s house in days old
Along the hedge their brilliance so vivid I linger until the sun hangs low
I can’t be blamed for loving this flower my appreciation partial
Whence they wither away there will be no flower to follow

青山隱隱水迢迢    秋盡江南草未凋
二十四橋明月夜    玉人何處教吹簫

To Magistrate Han of Yang Zhou                 江紹倫譯

Behind the green hills water flows far
With autumn leaving the south grass is yet to wither
Whence the twenty four bridges in town aflame by moonshine
Where is your favourite lass whose flute music rendition so fine