224

五言绝句

王维

鹿柴

空山不见人， 但闻人语响。

返景入深林， 复照青苔上。

Five-character-quatrain

Wang Wei

DEER-PARK HERMITAGE

There seems to be no one on the empty mountain....

And yet I think I hear a voice,

Where sunlight, entering a grove,

Shines back to me from the green moss.

225

五言绝句

王维

竹里馆

独坐幽篁里， 弹琴复长啸。

深林人不知， 明月来相照。

Five-character-quatrain

Wang Wei

IN A RETREAT AMONG BAMBOOS

Leaning alone in the close bamboos,

I am playing my lute and humming a song

Too softly for anyone to hear --

Except my comrade, the bright moon.

226

五言绝句

王维

送别

山中相送罢， 日暮掩柴扉。

春草明年绿， 王孙归不归。

Five-character-quatrain

Wang Wei

A PARTING

Friend, I have watched you down the mountain

Till now in the dark I close my thatch door....

Grasses return again green in the spring,

But O my Prince of Friends, do you?

227

五言绝句

王维

相思

红豆生南国， 春来发几枝。

愿君多采撷， 此物最相思。

Five-character-quatrain

Wang Wei

ONE-HEARTED

When those red berries come in springtime,

Flushing on your southland branches,

Take home an armful, for my sake,

As a symbol of our love.

228

五言绝句

王维

杂诗

君自故乡来， 应知故乡事。

来日绮窗前， 寒梅著花未。

Five-character-quatrain

Wang Wei

LINES

You who have come from my old country,

Tell me what has happened there ! --

Was the plum, when you passed my silken window,

Opening its first cold blossom?

229

五言绝句

裴迪

送崔九

归山深浅去， 须尽丘壑美。

莫学武陵人， 暂游桃源里。

Five-character-quatrain

Pei Di

A FAREWELL TO CUI

Though you think to return to this maze of mountains,

Oh, let them brim your heart with wonder!....

Remember the fisherman from Wuling

Who had only a day in the Peach-Blossom Country.

230

五言绝句

祖咏

终南望余雪

终南阴岭秀， 积雪浮云端。

林表明霁色， 城中增暮寒。

Five-character-quatrain

Zu Young

ON SEEING THE SNOW-PEAK OF ZHONGNAN

See how Zhongnan Mountain soars

With its white top over floating clouds --

And a warm sky opening at the snow-line

While the town in the valley grows colder and colder.

231

五言绝句

孟浩然

宿建德江

移舟泊烟渚， 日暮客愁新。

野旷天低树， 江清月近人。

Five-character-quatrain

Meng Haoran

A NIGHT-MOORING ON THE JIANDE RIVER

While my little boat moves on its mooring of mist,

And daylight wanes, old memories begin....

How wide the world was, how close the trees to heaven,

And how clear in the water the nearness of the moon!

232

五言绝句

孟浩然

春晓

春眠不觉晓， 处处闻啼鸟。

夜来风雨声， 花落知多少。

Five-character-quatrain

Meng Haoran

A SPRING MORNING

I awake light-hearted this morning of spring,

Everywhere round me the singing of birds --

But now I remember the night, the storm,

And I wonder how many blossoms were broken.

233

五言绝句

李白

夜思

床前明月光， 疑是地上霜。

举头望明月， 低头思故乡。

Five-character-quatrain

Li Bai

IN THE QUIET NIGHT

So bright a gleam on the foot of my bed --

Could there have been a frost already?

Lifting myself to look, I found that it was moonlight.

Sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home.

234

五言绝句

李白

怨情

美人卷珠帘， 深坐蹙蛾眉。

但见泪痕湿， 不知心恨谁。

Five-character-quatrain

Li Bai

A BITTER LOVE

How beautiful she looks, opening the pearly casement,

And how quiet she leans, and how troubled her brow is!

You may see the tears now, bright on her cheek,

But not the man she so bitterly loves.

235

五言绝句

杜甫

八阵图

功盖三分国， 名成八阵图。

江流石不转， 遗恨失吞吴。

Five-character-quatrain

Du Fu

THE EIGHT-SIDED FORTRESS

The Three Kingdoms, divided, have been bound by his greatness.

The Eight-Sided Fortress is founded on his fame;

Beside the changing river, it stands stony as his grief

That he never conquered the Kingdom of Wu.

236

五言绝句

王之涣

登鹳雀楼

白日依山尽， 黄河入海流。

欲穷千里目， 更上一层楼。

Five-character-quatrain

Wang Zhihuan

AT HERON LODGE

Mountains cover the white sun,

And oceans drain the golden river;

But you widen your view three hundred miles

By going up one flight of stairs.

237

五言绝句

刘长卿

送灵澈

苍苍竹林寺， 杳杳钟声晚。

荷笠带斜阳， 青山独归远。

Five-character-quatrain

Liu Changqing

ON PARTING WITH THE BUDDHIST PILGRIM LING CHE

From the temple, deep in its tender bamboos,

Comes the low sound of an evening bell,

While the hat of a pilgrim carries the sunset

Farther and farther down the green mountain.

238

五言绝句

刘长卿

弹琴

泠泠七弦上， 静听松风寒。

古调虽自爱， 今人多不弹。

Five-character-quatrain

Liu Changqing

ON HEARING A LUTE-PLAYER

Your seven strings are like the voice

Of a cold wind in the pines,

Singing old beloved songs

Which no one cares for any more.

239

五言绝句

刘长卿

送上人

孤云将野鹤， 岂向人间住。

莫买沃洲山， 时人已知处。

Five-character-quatrain

Liu Changqing

FAREWELL TO A BUDDHIST MONK

Can drifting clouds and white storks

Be tenants in this world of ours? --

Or you still live on Wuzhou Mountain,

Now that people are coming here?

240

五言绝句

韦应物

秋夜寄邱员外

怀君属秋夜， 散步咏凉天。

空山松子落， 幽人应未眠。

Five-character-quatrain

Wei Yingwu

AN AUTUMN NIGHT MESSAGE TO QIU

As I walk in the cool of the autumn night,

Thinking of you, singing my poem,

I hear a mountain pine-cone fall....

You also seem to be awake.

241

五言绝句

李端

听筝

鸣筝金粟柱， 素手玉房前。

欲得周郎顾， 时时误拂弦。

Five-character-quatrain

Li Duan

ON HEARING HER PLAY THE HARP

Her hands of white jade by a window of snow

Are glimmering on a golden-fretted harp --

And to draw the quick eye of Chou Yu,

She touches a wrong note now and then.

242

五言绝句

王建

新嫁娘

三日入厨下， 洗手作羹汤。

未谙姑食性， 先遣小姑尝。

Five-character-quatrain

Wang Jian

A BRIDE

On the third day, taking my place to cook,

Washing my hands to make the bridal soup,

I decide that not my mother-in-law

But my husbands young sister shall have the fiat taste.

243

五言绝句

权德舆

玉台体

昨夜裙带解， 今朝蟢子飞。

铅华不可弃， 莫是□砧归。

Five-character-quatrain

Quan Deyu

THE JADE DRESSING-TABLE

Last night my girdle came undone,

And this morning a luck-beetle flew over my bed.

So here are my paints and here are my powders --

And a welcome for my yoke again.

244

五言绝句

柳宗元

江雪

千山鸟飞绝， 万径人踪灭。

孤舟蓑笠翁， 独钓寒江雪。

Five-character-quatrain

Liu Zongyuan

RIVER-SNOW

A hundred mountains and no bird,

A thousand paths without a footprint;

A little boat, a bamboo cloak,

An old man fishing in the cold river-snow.

245

五言绝句

元稹

行宫

寥落古行宫， 宫花寂寞红。

白头宫女在， 闲坐说玄宗。

Five-character-quatrain

Yuan Zhen

THE SUMMER PALACE

In the faded old imperial palace,

Peonies are red, but no one comes to see them....

The ladies-in-waiting have grown white-haired

Debating the pomps of Emperor Xuanzong.

246

五言绝句

白居易

问刘十九

绿螘新醅酒， 红泥小火炉。

晚来天欲雪， 能饮一杯无。

Five-character-quatrain

Bai Juyi

A SUGGESTION TO MY FRIEND LIU

Theres a gleam of green in an old bottle,

Theres a stir of red in the quiet stove,

Theres a feeling of snow in the dusk outside --

What about a cup of wine inside?

247

五言绝句

张祜

何满子

故国三千里， 深宫二十年。

一声何满子， 双泪落君前。

Five-character-quatrain

Zhang Hu

SHE SINGS AN OLD SONG

A lady of the palace these twenty years,

She has lived here a thousand miles from her home-

Yet ask her for this song and, with the first few words of it,

See how she tries to hold back her tears.

248

五言绝句

李商隐

登乐游原

向晚意不适， 驱车登古原。

夕阳无限好， 只是近黄昏。

Five-character-quatrain

Li Shangyin

THE LEYOU TOMBS

With twilight shadows in my heart

I have driven up among the Leyou Tombs

To see the sun, for all his glory,

Buried by the coming night.

249

五言绝句

贾岛

寻隐者不遇

松下问童子， 言师采药去。

只在此山中， 云深不知处。

Five-character-quatrain

Jia Dao

A NOTE LEFT FOR AN ABSENT ECLUSE

When I questioned your pupil, under a pine-tree,

"My teacher," he answered, " went for herbs,

But toward which corner of the mountain,

How can I tell, through all these clouds ?"

250

五言绝句

李频

渡汉江

岭外音书绝， 经冬复立春。

近乡情更怯， 不敢问来人。

Five-character-quatrain

Li Pin

CROSSING THE HAN RIVER

Away from home, I was longing for news

Winter after winter, spring after spring.

Now, nearing my village, meeting people,

I dare not ask a single question.

251

五言绝句

金昌绪

春怨

打起黄莺儿， 莫教枝上啼。

啼时惊妾梦， 不得到辽西。

Five-character-quatrain

Jin Changzu

A SPRING SIGH

Drive the orioles away,

All their music from the trees....

When she dreamed that she went to Liaoxi Camp

To join him there, they wakened her

252

五言绝句

西鄙人

哥舒歌

北斗七星高， 哥舒夜带刀。

至今窥牧马， 不敢过临洮。

Five-character-quatrain

Xibiren

GENERAL GE SHU

This constellation, with its seven high stars,

Is Ge Shu lifting his sword in the night:

And no more barbarians, nor their horses, nor cattle,

Dare ford the river boundary.