森林 TREESWOODSFORESTS

Sparrow’s Ladle

shunyadragon — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:45:15 +0000

The Sparrow’s Ladle is propped up [by a stick],
the lad wears a fine prong.
Despite this handsome prong,
he cannot know me.
He desires to satisfy,
but his girdle swings low.

Like the Sparrow Ladle’s leaf,
the boy wear’s the archer’s thumb ring.
Though it is just a pendent thumb ring,
He cannot protect me.
He claims to fulfill me,
But his girdle hangs low.

芄兰

anonymous — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:37:16 +0000


芄兰之支、童子佩觿。
虽则佩觿、能不我知。
容兮遂兮、垂带悸兮。

芄兰之叶、童子佩韘。
虽则佩韘、能不我甲。
容兮遂兮、垂带悸兮。

Jade Steps Lament

shunyadragon — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:10:32 +0000

Jade steps glistening with dew,
lingered late stockings wet

Crystal curtain bides adieu,
Clear autumn the moon unveiled.

The Phoenix Bird Tower

Shigeyoshi Obata — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:55:20 +0000

Here once on the Phoenix Bird Tower
   the phoenix birds came to rest,
Now the birds are gone, the tower empty;
   only the river flows aimlessly on.
Here where the garden of Wu palace bloomed,
   the deep grass hides the paths;
Where the kings of Chin vaunted their regalia,
   is only an old hill.
I see the three peaks hang aloft
   as though half-dropt from the sky,
And the river divide in two streams,
   holding the White Heron Island between.
But the floating clouds cover the sun,
And the city of Chang-an is lost in distance and gloom.

On a Gate-Tower at Yu-Chou

Witter Bynner — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:13:32 +0000

Where, before me, are the ages that have gone?
And where, behind me, are the coming generations?
I think of heaven and earth, without limit, without end,
And I am all alone and my tears fall down.

A Friend Expected

Launcelot Cranmer-Byng — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:49:48 +0000

Over the chain of giant peaks
The great red sun goes down,
And in the stealthy floods of night
The distant valleys drown.

Yon moon that cleaves the gloomy pines
Has freshness in her train;
Low wind, faint stream, and waterfall
Haunt me with their refrain.

The tired woodman seeks his cot
That twinkles up the hill;
And sleep has touched the wanderers
That sang the twilight still.

To-night – ah! beauty of to-night
I need my friend to praise,
So take the lute to lure him on
Through the fragrant, dew-lit ways

Grasses

Witter Bynner — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:02:21 +0000

Boundless grasses over the plain
Come and go with every season;
Wildfire never quite consumes them –
They are tall once more in the spring wind.
Sweet they press on the old high-road
And reach the crumbling city-gate….
O Prince of Friends, you are gone again….
I hear them sighing after you.

A Farewell to Secretary Shu-Yun at the Hsieh T’iao Villa in Hsuan-Chou

Witter Bynner — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 10:20:10 +0000

Since yesterday had to throw me and bolt,
Today has hurt my heart even more.
The autumn wildgeese have a long wind for escort
As I face them from this villa, drinking my wine.
The bones of great writers are your brushes, in the School of Heaven,
And I am a Lesser Hsieh growing up by your side.
We both are exalted to distant thought,
Aspiring to the sky and the bright moon.
But since water still flows, though we cut it with our swords,
And sorrows return, though we drown them with wine,
Since the world can in no way answer our craving,
I will loosen my hair tomorrow and take to a fishing-boat.

A Song of the Palace

Witter Bynner — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:43:04 +0000

Now that the palace-gate has softly closed on its flowers,
Ladies file out to their pavilion of jade,
Abrim to the lips with imperial gossip
But not daring to breathe it with a parrot among them.

A Spring Feast

Herbert A. Giles — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 09:01:19 +0000

The paddy crops are waxing rich
   upon the Goose-Lake hill;
The fowls have just now gone to roost,
   the grunting pigs are still;
The mulberry casts a lengthening shade-
   the festival is o’er,
And tipsy revellers are helped
   each to his cottage door.