edited by Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping

Contents

A Note on the Selections and Some Words of Thanks xxxv

Preface: The Poem Behind the Poem:
Literary Translation as English-Language Poetry
BY TONY BARNSTONE

Introduction to Chinese Poetic Form
(as a Function of Yin-Yang Symmetry)
by Chou Ping

ZHOU DYNASTY (1122–256 BCE)

BOOK OF SONGS (c. 600 bce)
White Moonrise
Fruit Plummets from the Plum Tree
Serene Girl
In the Wilds Is a Dead River-Deer
All the Grasslands Are Yellow
Ripe Millet
I Beg You, Zhongzi
When the Gourd Has Dried Leaves

LAOZI (fourth–third centuries bce)
from the Dao De Jing

VERSES OF CHU (third century bce)
from Encountering Sorrow

HAN DYNASTY (206 BCE–220 CE)
NINETEEN ANCIENT POEMS
1. “Traveling traveling and still traveling traveling”
2. “Green so green is the river grass”
3. “Green so green are the cypress over the burial mounds”
4. “At today’s great banquet”
5. “A tall tower in the northwest”
6. “I cross the river to pick lotus flowers”
7. “Clear moon pours bright light at night”
8. “Soft and frail is a solitary bamboo”
9. “There is a wonderful tree in the courtyard”
10. “Far and far is the Cowherd Star”
11. “I turn my carriage around to return”
12. “The east wall is tall and long”
13. “I drive my wagon to the east gate”
14. “Day by day the dead are receding”
15. “Man dies within a hundred years”
16. “Chilly, chilly, the year-end clouds darken”
17. “A cold current in early winter”
18. “A traveler came from afar”
19. “Pure and white bright moon”

JIA YI (200–168 bce)
The Owl

LIU XIJUN (late second century bce)
Lament

ANONYMOUS FOLK SONGS FROM THE MUSIC BUREAU(c. 120 bce)
The East Gate
A Sad Tune
He Waters His Horse Near a Breach in the Long Wall
At Fifteen I Went to War
An Ancient Poem Written for the Wife of Jiao Zhongqing

SIX DYNASTIES PERIOD (220–589)
CAO CAO (155–220)
Watching the Blue Ocean
Song of Bitter Cold

RUAN JI (210–263)
from Chanting My Thoughts

FU XUAN (217–278)
To Be a Woman

ZI YE (third–fourth centuries)
Three Songs
Four Seasons Song: Spring
Four Seasons Song: Autumn

LU JI (261–303)
from The Art of Writing
Preface
1. The Impulse
2. Meditation
3. Process
4. The Joy of Words
9. The Riding Crop
10. Making It New
11. Ordinary and Sublime
18. The Well-Wrought Urn
19. Inspiration
20. Writer’s Block
21. The Power of a Poem

PAN YUE (247–300)
In Memory of My Dead Wife

TAO QIAN (c. 365–427)
Return to My Country Home
Begging for Food
I Stop Drinking
Drinking Alone When It Rains Day After Day
Scolding My Kids
Fire in the Sixth Month in 408 ce
from Twenty Poems on Drinking Wine
Elegies

SU XIAOXIAO (late fifth century)
Emotions on Being Apart
The Song of the West Tomb
To the Tune of “Butterflies Adore Flowers”

BAO ZHAO (c. 414–466)
from Variations on “The Weary Road”
On the Departure of Official Fu

BAO LINGHUI (fl. c. 464)
Sending a Book to a Traveler After Making an Inscription

PRINCESS CHEN LECHANG (sixth century)
Letting My Feelings Go at the Farewell Banquet

TANG DYNASTY (618–907)

WANG BO (649–676)
On the Wind

HE ZHIZHANG (659–744)
Willow

ZHANG RUOXU (c. 660–c. 720)
Spring, River, and Flowers on a Moonlit Night

MENG HAORAN (689–740)
Parting from Wang Wei
Spring Dawn
Spending the Night on Jiande River

WANG CHANGLING (c. 690–c. 756)
Song from the Borders

WANG WAN (693–751)
Stopping at Beigu Mountain

WANG WEI (701–761)
Watching the Hunt
Walking into the Liang Countryside
A Young Lady’s Spring Thoughts
For Someone Far Away
Climbing the City Tower North of the River
Deep South Mountain
Living in the Mountain on an Autumn Night
Drifting on the Lake
Cooling Off
Return to Wang River
Written on a Rainy Autumn Night After Pei Di’s Visit
To Pei Di, While We Are Living Lazily at Wang River
Birds Sing in the Ravine
Sketching Things
from The Wang River Sequence
Preface
1. Deer Park
2. House Hidden in the Bamboo Grove
3. Luan Family Rapids
4. White Pebble Shoal
5. Lakeside Pavilion
6. Magnolia Basin
Things in a Spring Garden
Answering the Poem Su Left in My Blue Field Mountain Country House, on Visiting and Finding Me Not Home
About Old Age, in Answer to a Poem by Subprefect Zhang
To My Cousin Qiu, Military Supply Official
On Being Demoted and Sent Away to Qizhou
For Zhang, Exiled in Jingzhou, Once Adviser to the Emperor
Seeing Off Prefect Ji Mu as He Leaves Office and Goes East of the River
Winter Night, Writing About My Emotion
Seeing Zu Off at Qizhou
A White Turtle Under a Waterfall
Song of Peach Tree Spring
Sitting Alone on an Autumn Night
Green Creek
Visiting the Mountain Courtyard of the Distinguished Monk Tanxing at Enlightenment Monastery
Questioning a Dream
Weeping for Ying Yao
Suffering from Heat

LI BAI (701–762)
A Song of Zhanggan Village
Grievance at the Jade Stairs
Seeing a Friend Off at Jingmen Ferry
Watching the Waterfall at Lu Mountain
Hearing a Flute on a Spring Night in Luoyang
River Song
I Listen to Jun, a Monk from Shu, Play His Lute
Seeing a Friend Off
Drinking Alone by Moonlight
Seeing Meng Haoran Off to Guangling at the Yellow Crane Tower
Saying Good-bye to Song Zhiti
Song
In Memory of He Zhizhang
Confessional
Zazen on Jingting Mountain
Questioning in the Mountains
Missing the East Mountains
Having a Good Time by Myself
Drinking Wine with the Hermit in the Mountains
Sent Far Off
Inscription for Summit Temple
Summer Day in the Mountains
Brooding in the Still Night
Singing by Green Water in Autumn
Drunk All Day
Song on Bringing in the Wine
On My Way Down Zhongnan Mountain I Passed by Hermit Fusi’s Place and He Treated Me to Wine While I Spent the Night There
Song of the North Wind
War South of the Great Wall
Hunting Song

CHU GUANGXI (707–c. 760)
from Jiangnan Melodies

DU FU (712–770)
Facing Snow
Gazing in Springtime
Ballad of the War Wagons
Moonlit Night
Thinking of My Brothers on a Moonlit Night
Broken Lines
Thoughts While Night Traveling
A Hundred Worries
Standing Alone
To Wei Ba
Dreaming of Li Bai
A Painted Falcon
New Moon
Spring Night Happy About Rain
Brimming Water
River Village
Looking at Mount Tai
Jiang Village
Jade Flower Palace
Newlyweds’ Departure
Old Couple’s Departure
A Homeless Man’s Departure
Song of a Thatched Hut Damaged in Autumn Wind
The Song of a Roped Chicken
Poem to Officer Fang’s Foreign Horse
Qu River
Leaving in My Boat
Guest’s Arrival: Happy About County Governor Cui’s Visit
A Lone Goose
A Traveler’s Night
from Five Poems About Historical Sites
On Yueyang Tower
Climbing High
Traveler’s Pavilion

LIU CHANGQING (c. 710–c. 787)
Spending the Night at Hibiscus Mountain When It Was Snowing
To Official Fei on His Demotion to State Ji

JIAO RAN (730–799)
On Lu Jianhong’s Absence During My Visit to Him

MENG JIAO (751–814)
Complaints
Song of the Homebound Letter
Statement of Feelings in a Shabby Residence on an Autumn Evening
Visiting Zhongnan Mountain
Frustration
Borrowing a Wagon
After Passing the Highest Imperial Examinations

LADY LIU (mid-eighth century)
To the Tune of “Yangliuzhi”

ZHANG JI (mid-eighth century)
Moored by the Maple Bridge at Night

HAN YU (768–824)
Mountain Rocks
Losing My Teeth
Listening to Yinshi Play His Instrument
Poem to Commander Zhang at the Meeting of the Bian and Si Rivers

XUE TAO (768–831)
Seeing a Friend Off
Sending Old Poems to Yuan Zhen
A Spring in Autumn
Spring Gazing
Willow Catkins
Hearing Cicadas
Moon

LIU YUXI (772–842)
Mooring at Niuzhu at Dusk
Bamboo Branch Song
Black-Uniform Lane
Looking at Dongting Lake

BAI JUYI (772–846)
Assignment Under the Title “Departure at Ancient Grass Field”
Night Rain
Song of an Evening River
Lament for Peony Flowers
Buying Flowers
Light Fur and Fat Horses
Watching the Reapers
The Old Charcoal Seller
Song of Everlasting Sorrow
Song of the Lute
Seeing Yuan Zhen’s Poem on the Wall at Blue Bridge Inn
On Laziness
On Laozi
Madly Singing in the Mountains
After Getting Drunk, Becoming Sober in the Night
Resignation
On His Baldness
Old Age
Since I Lay Ill
A Dream of Mountaineering

LIU ZONGYUAN (773–819)
River Snow
Poem to Relatives and Friends in the Capital After Looking at Mountains with Monk Hao Chu
Summer Day
Fisherman
The Caged Eagle

ZHANG JI (c. 776–c. 829)
A Soldier’s Wife Complains
Song of a Virtuous Woman
Arriving at a Fisherman’s House at Night

WU KE (eighth–ninth centuries)
To Cousin Jia Dao in Autumn

JIA DAO (778–841)
Looking for the Hermit and Not Finding Him

YUAN ZHEN (779–831)
When Told Bai Juyi Was Demoted and Sent to Jiangzhou
Late Spring
Petals Falling in the River
from Missing Her After Separation

LIU CAICHUN (late eighth–early ninth centuries)
Song of Luogen

LI HE (791–817)
from Twenty-three Horse Poems
Shown to My Younger Brother
from Speaking My Emotions
Flying Light
from Thirteen South Garden Poems
Su Xiaoxiao’s Tomb
Song of Goose Gate Governor
Under the City Wall at...