Chinese 323 Reflecting on Human Sufferings (3)

Travis' Selection:

Zhang Hua/Chang Hua (232-300)

"Emotion"

 

A pure breeze billows bed-curtains and blinds,

The moon of dawning lights the secluded room.

My husband is away on a distant journey,

The light of his face has gone from the orchid chamber.

I clutch the vacant shadows to my breast,

Only a light quilt covers the empty bed.

At the height of our joy, we grieved the nights were so short,

Now in my despair I resent the length of the dark.

I stroke my pillow, sigh in my loneliness,

Whelmed in sorrow, my heart is torn within me.

 

(Frodsham, An Anthology of Chinese Verse, p. 72.)

 

Valerie's Selection:

Tao Qian/T'ao Ch'ien (365-427)

"Begging for Food"

 

Hunger came, it forced me to go out,

I did not know where I was heading for.

I wandered and wandered, till I reached this village,

I knocked at a door, and muttered a few words,

The man of the house understood my intent;

He gave me what I desired; so my trip was not in vain.

We talked happily from morning to night,

And emptied our cups as we drank to each other.

Delighted by the joy of this new friendship,

We chanted verse and composed poetry.

"I appreciate your generosity; you are as kind as the washerwoman,

But I feel shame at not having Han Hsin's talents. (note)

I have no way to show my thanks

And must repay you from the grave." (note)

 

(Kang-I Sun Chang, Six Dynasties Poetry, p. 34)

 

 

Catherine's Selection:

Du Fu/Tu Fu (712-770)

"Dirge by the [Winding] Jiang"

 

The old rustic from Small Barrow weeps with stifled sobs,

On a spring day, walking furtively by a bend of the Winging Jiang.

Palaces by the Jiang banks have locked their thousand gates:

Tender willows, new rushes--for whom do you turn green?

Recall the past, when rainbow banners granced South Park,

Within the park, myriad things all turned a brighter hue.

His Majesty's First Lady comes from the Dawnlight Palace,

Shares his carriage, and stands in service by His side.

Before His carriage, maids of honor bear bow and arrow;

A white steed bites and champs at each golden bridle.

Leaning back, facing the sky, they shot into the clouds:

Each single laugh seemed to fell a pair of flying wings.

The shining eyes and gleaming teeth--where are they now?

Her bloodstained and wandering soul--unable to return.

The clear Wei flows eastward, Swordgate stands remote:

The departed and those left behind trade no tidings.

Human beings have feelings and tears to stain our robes:

Jiang waters and Jiang blossoms--could they ever cease?

At yellow dusk, alien horsemen's dust floods the city:

I will head south of the city to gaze north of the city.

 

(David McCraw, Du Fu's Laments from the South, p. 13.)

 

Heidi's Selection:

Meng Jiao/Meng Chiao (751-814)

"Autumn Meditations: Fifteen Poems"

 

IX.

 

The cold dew is always sickly, pale,

Wind through bare branches breathes out in the morning.

As autumn deepens, the moon grows clear and bitter,

Insects grow old, their voices rough and harsh.

Crimson beads are strung upon the branches,

The fragrant gold creeps slowly and leisurely.

Trees and grasses also respond to the season,

Blooming in the cold as though it were the remnant of spring.

I grieve for my life that falls like the leaves,

Within me--what state of mind?

 

(Stephen Owen, The Poetry of Meng Chiao and Han Yü, p. 174.)

 

Kelley's Selection:

Bai Juyi/Po Chü-i (772-846)

"Illness"

 

Sad, sad--lean with long illness:

Monotonous, monotonous--days and nights pass.

The summer trees have clad themselves in shade;

The autumn "lan" already houses the dew.

The eggs that lay in the nest when I took to bed

Have changed into little birds and flown away.

The worm that then lay hidden in its hole

Has hatched into a cricket sitting on the tree.

The Four Seasons go on for ever and ever:

In all Nature nothing stops to rest

Even for a moment. Only the sick man's heart

Deep down still aches as of old!

 

(Arthur Waley, 170 Chinese Poems, pp.120-121.)

 

Adeline's Selection:

Gao Qi/Kao Ch'i (1336-74)

"Seeing Flowers I Remember My Late Daughter, Shu"

 

My second daughter, I loved her so much!

To the age of six we loved and nurtured her.

Holding her, I watched her nibble fruit;

putting her on my lap, I taught her to chant poems.

In the morning she would rise, and imitate elder sister's make-up,

scrambling to the mirror for a peek.

She had a liking for silk and satin

which our family, poor, could not afford.

Alas! For years I was disappointed,

traveling crooked roads in rain and snow!

At evening I'd return to her happy welcome:

my sad feelings would always turn to joy.

Why is it that one morning of illness,

also a time of crisis in the world,

we heard the shocking news and then she died

with no time for medicine to be applied?

In haste we prepared a flimsy coffin,

and escorted her in tears to a distant slope.

Far, far, already hard to find;

pain, pain, still I bitterly grieve.

And I remember last year's spring,

the flowers opened by the pond in the old garden.

She dragged me over beneath the trees

and had me pluck a good branchful!

This year, the flowers bloom again

and I live a traveler by a distant shore.

The rest of the family lives, you alone are dead:

as I watch the flowers tears in vain now fall.

One cup of wine does not comfort me:

evenings curtain flaps in chilly wind.

 

(Frederick Mote, tr., Jonathan Chaves, ed., The Columbia Book of Later Chinese Poetry, p. 128.)