Wei Yingwu, East of TownSuzhou, China, 8th CenturyIn the green hills along the eastern shore of the lake where the willow play in the wind. Wei Yingwu came from a prestigious family. His civil service included being a bodyguard to the Emperor Xuanzong, magistrate in two districts, then governor of three provinces Chuzhou (784), Jiangzhou…
Category: Spring
West of the Creek at Chuzhou
Chuzhou, China, 784At the western edge of the Yangtze River Delta. Twilight, after the rain, a raging stream, an abandoned ferry and a drifting boat. Our poet delights in the wildflowers at the edge of bank. West of the Creek at ChuzhouAlone, I tenderly love the wildflowers tucked in along the creek,And deep in the…
Pity the Peasant
Pity the poor peasant who toils away and is left with nothing to eat. If there was ever a revolutionary poem to inspire the oppressed farmers, the proletariat, the workers of the world, this is it. The author is the Tang dynasty poet, Li Shen (李紳, died 846), imperial official, governor, and poet. pity the…
Spring Again — 2023
Chang’an, 740s Li Bai, the Tang dynasty’s new, young Rock Star poet, is at the imperial court in Chang’an, writing poems to please the Emperor Xuanzong and his concubine, the lovely Yang Guifei. An earlier translation, Spring Thoughts. In SpringIn Yan the grass is thin as silk and blue,In Qin the mulberry bows down with…
Spring Poem, Bai Juyi
Spring Poem If she turned and asked, would her parrot say why she is sad? The Tang poet, Bi Juyi (白居易, 772–846) gives us this image in Spring of a girl standing on the porch outside her bedroom. The flowers in the trees are blooming, but furrowed eyebrows show the sorrow in her heart. As…
Dining With Mei
Qingming The lunar festival of Qingming (literally Pure Bright) is celebrated when the sun reaches 15° of celestial longitude, April the 4th, 5th or 6th (According to the Gregorian calendar). Traditionally, Chinese families visit the graves of ancestors, eat cold food dishes, and burn incense. Qingming — Dining at Taoist Mei’s House Lying in the…
The Wind, by Li Jiao
Wind The wind that blows September’s leavesCan open February flowers Can raise on the river three foot wavesAnd bend ten thousand bamboo poles Tang poet, Li Jiao, 645~714 风 解落三秋叶能开二月花过江三尺浪入竹万竿斜 唐, 李峤 FēngJiě luò sānqiū yè néng kāi èr yuè huā guò jiāng sān chǐ làng rù zhú wàn gān xiéLi Jiao The Wind The…
Lovely Jiangnan, Bai Juyi
Sometimes when someone is punished and exiled, one falls in love with the very place one is sent to for punishment. This was so for Bai Juyi (772 – 846), who was banished from the capital of Chang’an for an indiscretion and sent south of the Yangtze River to what is generally called Jiangnan, 江南,…
The Hope of Spring
March 2022, the Russian war in Ukraine rages without much hope for peace. The winter snow still falls, as do the bombs, but the tanks are strangely silent outside the major cities. The Ukrainian military fights on. There is a hope of spring in the hearts of the freedom loving Ukrainian people. Du Fu’s poem…
Wandering outside Jinling with Deputy Lu on an Early Spring Morning
Colorful clouds arise from the ocean at dawn The Plum and the Willow spit out their buds in Spring The yellow Oriole hastens to sing on a gentle breeze As the light of the sun turns the apple green Suddenly hearing an old familiar tune I want to return and wipe my eyes with a…
100 Tang Poems 