TAKING LEAVE OF WANG WÊI
By Mêng Hao-Ran

Slow and reluctant, I have waited
Day after day, till now I must go.
How sweet the road-side flowers might be
If they did not mean good-bye, old friend.
The Lords of the Realm are harsh to us
And men of affairs are not our kind.
I will turn back home, I will say no more,
I will close the gate of my old garden.

(Witter Bynner, translator)

#MêngHaoRan #孟浩然 #WangWêi #王維 #TangPoetry #LeaveTaking #friendship

TAKING LEAVE OF WANG WÊI
By Mêng Hao-Ran

Slow and reluctant, I have waited
Day after day, till now I must go.
How sweet the road-side flowers might be
If they did not mean good-bye, old friend.
The Lords of the Realm are harsh to us
And men of affairs are not our kind.
I will turn back home, I will say no more,
I will close the gate of my old garden.

#MengHaoRan #WangWei #TangPoetry #LeaveTaking #friendship

AT PARTING
By Wang Wei

Dismounting from my horse, I offer you wine
And ask where you are going and why.
You answer, “I am discontent
And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain.
So give me leave and ask no questions.
White clouds pass there without end.”

#WangWei #TangPoetry

AT PARTING
By Wang Wei

Dismounting from my horse, I off you wine
And ask where you are going and why.
You answer, “I am discontent
And would rest at the foot of the southern mountain.
So give me leave and ask no questions.
White clouds pass there without end.”

#WangWei #TangPoetry

Li Bai -- To Du Fu, from Shaqiu
(written after Li Bai got kicked out of Chang'an)

And how have I been spending my time?
I've been here in Shaqiu, away from everything.
There are old trees by the city wall,
And I hear autumn in their branches night and day.
Shandong wine can't get me drunk.
The local poets leave me cold.
My thoughts of you are like the River Wen,
Surging and churning ever southward.

我來竟何事？高臥沙丘城
城邊有古樹，日夕連秋聲
魯酒不可醉，齊歌空復情
思君若汶水，浩蕩寄南徵

#ChineseLiterature #Translation #TangPoetry

@Dharmachari17 置琴曲几上 (zhì qín qǔ jī shàng) - "Place the music sheet on the instrument stand"
慵坐但含情 (yōng zuò dàn hán qíng) - "Sit lazily but with emotions"
何煩故揮弄 (hé fán gù huī nòng) - "Why bother, why play around"
風弦自有聲 (fēng xián zì yǒu shēng) - "The wind makes the strings sing by itself" #tangpoetry

HS 99, which I like to think of as "former gifted children stfu challenge":

蹭蹬諸貧士， 飢寒成至極。
閑居好作詩， 札札用心力。
賤他言孰采， 勸君休歎息。
題安糊䴵上， 乞狗也不喫。

Broke scholars who can't catch a break,
Hungry and cold as can be,
Using your down-time to versify,
Pouring your hearts into every strip of paper --

Low as you are, who'd listen to your words?
I'm telling you: Quit moaning and groaning.
If you wrote your verses on a bun,
A starving dog would shun it.

#寒山 #HanShan #ChineseLiterature #TangPoetry #Translation

Han Shan 55 is good too:

桃花欲經夏， 風月催不待。
訪覓漢時人， 能無一箇在。
朝朝花遷落， 歲歲人移改。
今日揚塵處， 昔時為大海。

Peach blossoms long to last the summer through,
but wind and moon compel them ceaselessly.
Look for the people of the Han --
there's not a one alive today.
Dawn after dawn the flowers aged and fell;
Year in, year out, the people moved and changed.
There, where your foot kicks up the dust:
That once was boundless sea.

#寒山 #HanShan #ChineseLiterature #TangPoetry #Translation

There should be no doubt in future about who is responsible. 😝

@bhargavi_lawbookskettlebells @chenthil @poongabook

#bookstadon #books #poetry #ChinesePoetry #TangPoetry #translations