serene & picturesque Andrew, & unusually poetic. what chinese poems
I've read are very straightforward & even narrative; these are also,
but your translation, I can bet, adds a real poetic element.
KS
On 11/04/07, andrew burke <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Okay, folks, here is how a cocky Aussie met his match in the
> translation ring. I present three classic Chinese poems in my own
> translation. I am 'proud' of the first two but, while I _like_ the
> third one, it is wildly inadequote. As it won't see the light of day
> anywhere else, I lay it on you.
>
> (title) Crows Calling at Midnight
> Li Bai
>
> Yellow clouds behind the tower where
> a crow returns and calls caw caw on a branch.
> Inside, a Qin river girl weaves a brocade
> of green yarn like mist, hears a whisper at the window
> She stops the shuttle, but it is nobody. She recalls her friend
> far away, and herself in tears like rain alone in her room
>
> (trans. Andrew Burke)
>
>
>
> (title) Homesickness
> Li Gou
>
> Some say the sun sets on the horizon
> I see all corners of the sky but I do not see my home
> I already hate the blue mountains for keeping us separated
> Blue mountains covered in cloud by evening
>
> (trans. Andrew Burke)
>
>
>
> (title) Spring View
> Du Fu
>
>
> Though the country is damaged,
> mountains and rivers remain whole,
> spring is alive in the city in grass and trees, as
> flowers express my melancholy, like a splash of tears -
> sad to be apart, a bird startles my heart.
> Beacon fires signal a season away –
> letters from home worth a year's salary.
> I scratch where my hair turns white and thin
> too thin to hold a hairpin
>
> (trans. Andrew Burke)
>
>
> --
> Andrew
> http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
> http://www.inblogs.net/hispirits
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/aburke/
>
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