When clouds are thin, and the wind is light,
about the noontide hour,
I cross the stream, through willow paths
with all around in flower.
The world knows not my inmost thoughts
which make me seem a fool;
I’m taken for a truant boy
escaped from tedious school.
Chêng Hao A.D. 1032-1085
Across the screen the autumn moon
stares coldly from the sky;
With silken fan I sit and flick
the fireflies sailing by.
The night grows colder every hour, –
it chills me to the heart
To watch the Spinning Maiden
from the Herdboy far apart.
Tu Mu A.D. 803-852
In autumn, when the nights are chill,
I stroll, and croon, and think of thee.
When dropping pine-cones strew the hill,
Say, hast thou waking dreams of me?
Wei Ying-wu 8th cent. A.D.
White gleam the gulls across the darkling
tide,
On the green hills the red flowers seem
to burn;
Alas ! I see another spring has died…..
When will it come – the day of my
return?
Tu Fu A.D. 712–770 .
You ask what my soul does away in the sky,
I inwardly smile but I cannot reply;
Like the peach-blossom carried away by the
stream,
I soar to a world of which you cannot dream.
Li Po A.D. 705-762
Where blue hills cross the northern sky,
Beyond the moat which girds the town,
‘Twas there we stopped to say Goodbye!
And one white sail alone dropped down.
Your heart was full of wandering thought;
For me, – my sun had set indeed
To wave a last adieu we sought,
Voiced for us by each whinnying steed!
Li Po A.D. 705-762
A tortoise I see on a lotus-fower resting;
A bird ‘mid the reeds and the rushes is
nesting;
A light skiff propelled by some boatman ‘s
fair daughter,
Whose song dies away o’er the fast-flowing
water.
Li Po A.D. 705-762
I anchor at the Newchew hill,
The autumn sky serene and still,
And watch the moon her crescent fill,
And vainly think on him by whom
this shore was made renowned.
Though mine is no ungraceful lay,
He cannot hear the words I say,
And I must sail at break of day…..
And all this while the maple leaves
are fluttering to the ground.
Li Po A.D. 705-762
The breeze blows the willow-scent in from
the dell,
While Phyllis with bumpers would fain
cheer us up;
Dear friends press around me to bid me
farewell:
Goodbye ! and goodbye !. – and yet just
one more cup…..
I whisper, Thou’lt see this great stream
flow away
Ere I cease to love as I love thee today!
Li Po A.D. 705-762
What is life after all but a dream?
And why should such pother be made?
Better far to be tipsy, I deem,
And doze all day long in the shade.
When I wake and look out on the lawn,
I hear midst the flowers a bird sing;
I ask, “Is it evening or dawn?”
The mango-bird whistles, “‘Tis spring.”
Overpower’d with the beautiful sight,
Another full goblet I pour,
And would sing till the moon rises bright –
But soon I’m as drunk as before.
Li Po A.D. 705-762
