300 Tang Poems
Five-character-regular-verse
七言律詩
祖詠
望薊門
燕臺一去客心驚， 簫鼓喧喧漢將營。
萬里寒光生積雪， 三邊曙色動危旌。
沙場烽火侵胡月， 海畔雲山擁薊城。
少小雖非投筆吏， 論功還欲請長纓。
Five-character-regular-verse
Zu Yong
LOOKING TOWARD AN INNER GATE
OF THE GREAT WALL
My heart sank when I headed north from Yan Country
To the camps of China echoing ith bugle and drum.
...In an endless cold light of massive snow,
Tall flags on three borders rise up like a dawn.
War-torches invade the barbarian moonlight,
Mountain-clouds like chairmen bear the Great Wall from the sea.
...Though no youthful clerk meant to be a great general,
I throw aside my writing-brush --
Like the student who tossed off cap for a lariat,
I challenge what may come.
Seven-character-regular-verse
七言律詩
李頎
送魏萬之京
朝聞遊子唱驪歌， 昨夜微霜初度河。
鴻雁不堪愁裡聽， 雲山況是客中過。
關城樹色催寒近， 御苑砧聲向晚多。
莫見長安行樂處， 空令歲月易蹉跎。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Qi
A FAREWELL TO WEI WAN
The travellers' parting-song sounds in the dawn.
Last night a first frost came over the river;
And the crying of the wildgeese grieves my sad heart
Bounded by a gloom of cloudy mountains....
Here in the Gate City, day will flush cold
And washing-flails quicken by the gardens at twilight --
How long shall the capital content you,
Where the months and the years so vainly go by?
七言律詩
崔曙
九日登望仙臺呈劉明府
漢文皇帝有高臺， 此日登臨曙色開。
三晉雲山皆北向， 二陵風雨自東來。
關門令尹誰能識？ 河上仙翁去不回，
且欲竟尋彭澤宰， 陶然共醉菊花杯。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Cui Shu
A CLIMB ON THE MOUNTAIN HOLIDAY
TO THE TERRACE WHENCE ONE SEES THE MAGICIAN
A POEM SENT TO VICE-PREFECT LU
The Han Emperor Wen bequeathed us this terrace
Which I climb to watch the coming dawn.
Cloudy peaks run northward in the three Jin districts,
And rains are blowing westward through the two Ling valleys.
...Who knows but me about the Guard at the Gate,
Or where the Magician of the River Bank is,
Or how to find that magistrate, that poet,
Who was as fond as I am of chrysanthemums and winecups?
七言律詩
李白
登金陵鳳凰台
鳳凰台上鳳凰游， 鳳去台空江自流。
吳宮花草埋幽徑， 晉代衣冠成古邱。
三台半落青山外， 二水中分白鷺洲。
總為浮雲能蔽日， 長安不見使人愁。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Bai
ON CLIMBING IN NANJING TO THE TERRACE
OF PHOENIXES
Phoenixes that played here once, so that the place was named for them,
Have abandoned it now to this desolate river;
The paths of Wu Palace are crooked with weeds;
The garments of Qin are ancient dust.
...Like this green horizon halving the Three Peaks,
Like this Island of White Egrets dividing the river,
A cloud has arisen between the Light of Heaven and me,
To hide his city from my melancholy heart.
七言律詩
高適
送李少府貶峽中王少府貶長沙
嗟君此別意何如？ 駐馬銜杯問謫居。
巫峽啼猿數行淚， 衡陽歸雁幾封書。
青楓江上秋帆遠， 白帝城邊古木疏。
聖代即今多雨露， 暫時分手莫躊躇。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Gao Shi
TO VICE-PREFECTS LI AND WANG DEGRADED AND
TRANSFERRED TO XIAZHONG AND CHANGSHA
What are you thinking as we part from one another,
Pulling in our horses for the stirrup-cups?
Do these tear-streaks mean Wu Valley monkeys all weeping,
Or wildgeese returning with news from Heng Mountain?....
On the river between green maples an autumn sail grows dim,
There are only a few old trees by the wall of the White God City....
But the year is bound to freshen us with a dew of heavenly favour --
Take heart, we shall soon be together again!
七言律詩
岑參
奉和中書舍人賈至早朝大明宮
雞鳴紫陌曙光寒， 鶯囀皇州春色闌。
金闕曉鐘開萬戶， 玉階仙仗擁千官。
花迎劍珮星初落， 柳拂旌旗露未乾。
獨有鳳凰池上客， 陽春一曲和皆難。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Cen Can
AN EARLY AUDIENCE AT THE PALACE OF LIGHT
HARMONIZING SECRETARY JIA ZHI'S POEM
Cock-crow, the Purple Road cold in the dawn;
Linnet songs, court roofs tinted with April;
At the Golden Gate morning bell, countless doors open,
And up the jade steps float a thousand officials
With flowery scabbards.... Stars have gone down;
Willows are brushing the dew from the flags --
And, alone on the Lake of the Phoenix, a guest
Is chanting too well The Song of Bright Spring.
七言律詩
王維
和賈舍人早朝大明宮之作
絳幘雞人送曉籌， 尚衣方進翠雲裘。
九天閶闔開宮殿， 萬國衣冠拜冕旒。
日色纔臨仙掌動， 香煙欲傍袞龍浮。
朝罷須裁五色詔， 珮聲歸向鳳池頭。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Wang Wei
AN EARLY AUDIENCE AT THE PALACE OF LIGHT
HARMONIZING SECRETARY JIA ZHI POEM
The red-capped Cock-Man has just announced morning;
The Keeper of the Robes brings Jade-Cloud Furs;
Heaven's nine doors reveal the palace and its courtyards;
And the coats of many countries bow to the Pearl Crown.
Sunshine has entered the giants' carven palms;
Incense wreathes the Dragon Robe:
The audience adjourns-and the five-coloured edict
Sets girdle-beads clinking toward the Lake of the Phoenix.
七言律詩
王維
奉和聖製從蓬萊向興慶閣道中留春雨中春望之作應制
渭水自縈秦塞曲， 黃山舊遶漢宮斜。
鑾輿迥出千門柳， 閣道迴看上苑花。
雲裡帝城雙鳳闕， 雨中春樹萬人家。
為乘陽氣行時令， 不是宸遊玩物華。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Wang Wei
LOOKING DOWN IN A SPRING-RAIN ON THE COURSE
FROM FAIRY-MOUNTAIN PALACE TO THE PAVILION OF
INCREASE HARMONIZING THE EMPEROR'S POEM
Round a turn of the Qin Fortress winds the Wei River,
And Yellow Mountain foot-hills enclose the Court of China;
Past the South Gate willows comes the Car of Many Bells
On the upper Palace-Garden Road-a solid length of blossom;
A Forbidden City roof holds two phoenixes in cloud;
The foliage of spring shelters multitudes from rain;
And now, when the heavens are propitious for action,
Here is our Emperor ready-no wasteful wanderer.
七言律詩
王維
積雨輞川莊作
積雨空林煙火遲， 蒸藜炊黍餉東菑。
漠漠水田飛白鷺， 陰陰夏木囀黃鸝。
山中習靜觀朝槿， 松下清齋折露葵。
野老與人爭席罷， 海鷗何事更相疑？
Seven-character-regular-verse
Wang Wei
IN MY LODGE AT WANG CHUAN
AFTER A LONG RAIN
The woods have stored the rain, and slow comes the smoke
As rice is cooked on faggots and carried to the fields;
Over the quiet marsh-land flies a white egret,
And mango-birds are singing in the full summer trees....
I have learned to watch in peace the mountain morningglories,
To eat split dewy sunflower-seeds under a bough of pine,
To yield the post of honour to any boor at all....
Why should I frighten sea gulls, even with a thought?
七言律詩
王維
酬郭給事
洞門高閣靄餘輝， 桃李陰陰柳絮飛。
禁裡疏鐘官舍晚， 省中啼鳥吏人稀。
晨搖玉珮趨金殿， 夕奉天書拜瑣闈。
強欲從君無那老， 將因臥病解朝衣。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Wang Wei
HARMONIZING A POEM BY PALACE-ATTENDANT GUO
High beyond the thick wall a tower shines with sunset
Where peach and plum are blooming and the willowcotton flies.
You have heard in your office the court-bell of twilight;
Birds find perches, officials head for home.
Your morning-jade will tinkle as you thread the golden palace;
You will bring the word of Heaven from the closing gates at night.
And I should serve there with you; but being full of years,
I have taken off official robes and am resting from my troubles.
七言律詩
杜甫
蜀相
丞相祠堂何處尋？ 錦官城外柏森森，
映階碧草自春色， 隔葉黃鸝空好音。
三顧頻煩天下計， 兩朝開濟老臣心。
出師未捷身先死， 長使英雄淚滿襟。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
THE TEMPLE OF THE PREMIER OF SHU
Where is the temple of the famous Premier? --
In a deep pine grove near the City of Silk,
With the green grass of spring colouring the steps,
And birds chirping happily under the leaves.
...The third summons weighted him with affairs of state
And to two generations he gave his true heart,
But before he could conquer, he was dead;
And heroes have wept on their coats ever since.
七言律詩
杜甫
客至
舍南舍北皆春水， 但見群鷗日日來。
花徑不曾緣客掃， 蓬門今始為君開。
盤飧市遠無兼味， 樽酒家貧只舊醅。
肯與鄰翁相對飲， 隔籬呼取盡餘杯。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
A HEARTY WELCOME TO VICE-PREFECT CUI
North of me, south of me, spring is in flood,
Day after day I have seen only gulls....
My path is full of petals -- I have swept it for no others.
My thatch gate has been closed -- but opens now for you.
It's a long way to the market, I can offer you little --
Yet here in my cottage there is old wine for our cups.
Shall we summon my elderly neighbour to join us,
Call him through the fence, and pour the jar dry?
七言律詩
杜甫
野望
西山白雪三城戍， 南浦清江萬里橋。
海內風塵諸弟隔， 天涯涕淚一身遙。
唯將遲暮供多病， 未有涓埃答聖朝。
跨馬出郊時極目， 不堪人事日蕭條。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
A VIEW OF THE WILDERNESS
Snow is white on the westward mountains and on three fortified towns,
And waters in this southern lake flash on a long bridge.
But wind and dust from sea to sea bar me from my brothers;
And I cannot help crying, I am so far away.
I have nothing to expect now but the ills of old age.
I am of less use to my country than a grain of dust.
I ride out to the edge of town. I watch on the horizon,
Day after day, the chaos of the world.
七言律詩
杜甫
聞官軍收河南河北
劍外忽傳收薊北， 初聞涕淚滿衣裳。
卻看妻子愁何在？ 漫卷詩書喜欲狂。
白日放歌須縱酒， 青春作伴好還鄉。
即從巴峽穿巫峽， 便下襄陽向洛陽。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
BOTH SIDES OF THE YELLOW RIVER
RECAPTURED BY THE IMPERIAL ARMY
News at this far western station! The north has been recaptured!
At first I cannot check the tears from pouring on my coat --
Where is my wife? Where are my sons?
Yet crazily sure of finding them, I pack my books and poems - -
And loud my song and deep my drink
On the green spring-day that starts me home,
Back from this mountain, past another mountain,
Up from the south, north again-to my own town!
七言律詩
杜甫
登高
風急天高猿嘯哀， 渚清沙白鳥飛迴。
無邊落木蕭蕭下， 不盡長江滾滾來。
萬里悲秋常作客， 百年多病獨登臺。
艱難苦恨繁霜鬢， 潦倒新停濁酒杯。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
A LONG CLIMB
In a sharp gale from the wide sky apes are whimpering,
Birds are flying homeward over the clear lake and white sand,
Leaves are dropping down like the spray of a waterfall,
While I watch the long river always rolling on.
I have come three thousand miles away. Sad now with autumn
And with my hundred years of woe, I climb this height alone.
Ill fortune has laid a bitter frost on my temples,
Heart-ache and weariness are a thick dust in my wine.
七言律詩
杜甫
登樓
花近高樓傷客心， 萬方多難此登臨。
錦江春色來天地， 玉壘浮雲變古今。
北極朝庭終不改， 西山寇盜莫相侵。
可憐後主還祠廟， 日暮聊為梁父吟。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
FROM AN UPPER STORY
Flowers, as high as my window, hurt the heart of a wanderer
For I see, from this high vantage, sadness everywhere.
The Silken River, bright with spring, floats between earth and heaven
Like a line of cloud by the Jade Peak, between ancient days and now.
...Though the State is established for a while as firm as the North Star
And bandits dare not venture from the western hills,
Yet sorry in the twilight for the woes of a longvanished Emperor,
I am singing the song his Premier sang when still unestranged from the mountain.
七言律詩
杜甫
宿府
清秋幕府井梧寒， 獨宿江城蠟炬殘。
永夜角聲悲自語， 中天月色好誰看？
風塵荏苒音書絕， 關塞蕭條行難。
已忍伶俜十年事， 強移棲息一枝安。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
STAYING AT THE GENERAL'S HEADQUARTERS
The autumn night is clear and cold in the lakka-trees of this courtyard.
I am lying forlorn in the river-town. I watch my guttering candle.
I hear the lonely notes of a bugle sounding through the dark.
The moon is in mid-heaven, but there's no one to share it with me.
My messengers are scattered by whirls of rain and sand.
City-gates are closed to a traveller; mountains are walls in my way --
Yet, I who have borne ten years of pitiable existence,
Find here a perch, a little branch, and am safe for this one night.
七言律詩
杜甫
閣夜
歲暮陰陽催短景， 天涯霜雪霽寒霄。
五更鼓角聲悲壯， 三峽星河影動搖。
野哭千家聞戰伐， 夷歌數處起漁樵。
臥龍躍馬終黃土， 人事音書漫寂寥。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
NIGHT IN THE WATCH-TOWER
While winter daylight shortens in the elemental scale
And snow and frost whiten the cold-circling night,
Stark sounds the fifth-watch with a challenge of drum and bugle.
...The stars and the River of Heaven pulse over the three mountains;
I hear women in the distance, wailing after the battle;
I see barbarian fishermen and woodcutters in the dawn.
...Sleeping-Dragon, Plunging-Horse, are no generals now, they are dust --
Hush for a moment, O tumult of the world.
七言律詩
杜甫
詠懷古跡五首之一
支離東北風塵際， 漂泊西南天地間。
三峽樓臺淹日月， 五溪衣服共雲山。
羯胡事主終無賴， 詞客哀時且未還。
庾信平生最蕭瑟， 暮年詩賦動江關。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
POETIC THOUGHTS ON ANCIENT SITES I
Forlorn in the northeast among wind and dust,
Drifting in the southwest between heaven and earth,
Lingering for days and months in towers and terraces at the Three Gorges,
Sharing clouds and mountains with the costumes of the Five Streams.
The barbarian serving the ruler in the end was unreliable.
The wandering poet lamenting the times had no chance to return.
Yu Xin throughout his life was most miserable,
In his waning years his poetry stirred the land of rivers and passes.
七言律詩
杜甫
詠懷古跡五首之二
搖落深知宋玉悲， 風流儒雅亦吾師。
悵望千秋一灑淚， 蕭條異代不同時。
江山故宅空文藻， 雲雨荒臺豈夢思。
最是楚宮俱泯滅， 舟人指點到今疑。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
POETIC THOUGHTS ON ANCIENT SITES II
"Decay and decline": deep knowledge have I of Sung Yu's grief.
Romantic and refined, he too is my teacher.
Sadly looking across a thousand autumns, one shower of tears,
Melancholy in different epochs, not at the same time.
Among rivers and mountains his old abode--empty his writings;
Deserted terrace of cloud and rain--surely not just imagined in a dream?
Utterly the palaces of Chu are all destroyed and ruined,
The fishermen pointing them out today are unsure.
七言律詩
杜甫
詠懷古跡五首之三
群山萬壑赴荊門， 生長明妃尚有村。
一去紫臺連朔漠， 獨留青塚向黃昏。
畫圖省識春風面， 環珮空歸月下魂。
千載琵琶作胡語， 分明怨恨曲中論。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
THOUGHTS OF OLD TIME III
Ten thousand ranges and valleys approach the Jing Gate
And the village in which the Lady of Light was born and bred.
She went out from the purple palace into the desertland;
She has now become a green grave in the yellow dusk.
Her face ! Can you picture a wind of the spring?
Her spirit by moonlight returns with a tinkling
Song of the Tartars on her jade guitar,
Telling her eternal sorrow.
七言律詩
杜甫
詠懷古跡五首之四
蜀主征吳幸三峽， 崩年亦在永安宮。
翠華想像空山裡， 玉殿虛無野寺中。
古廟杉松巢水鶴， 歲時伏臘走村翁。
武侯祠屋常鄰近， 一體君臣祭祀同。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
POETIC THOUGHTS ON ANCIENT SITES IV
The ruler of Shu had his eyes on Wu and progressed as far as the Three Gorges.
In the year of his demise, too, he was in the Palace of Eternal Peace.
The blue-green banners can be imagined on the empty mountain,
The jade palace is a void in the deserted temple.
In the pines of the ancient shrine aquatic cranes nest;
At summer and winter festivals the comers are village elders.
The Martial Marquis's memorial shrine is ever nearby;
In union, sovereign and minister share the sacrifices together.
七言律詩
杜甫
詠懷古跡五首之五
諸葛大名垂宇宙， 宗臣遺像肅清高。
三分割據紆籌策， 萬古雲霄一羽毛。
伯仲之間見伊呂， 指揮若定失蕭曹。
運移漢祚終難復， 志決身殲軍務勞。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Du Fu
THOUGHTS OF OLD TIME V
Zhuge's prestige transcends the earth;
There is only reverence for his face;
Yet his will, among the Three Kingdoms at war,
Was only as one feather against a flaming sky.
He was brother of men like Yi and Lu
And in time would have surpassed the greatest of all statesmen.
Though he knew there was no hope for the House of Han,
Yet he wielded his mind for it, yielded his life.
七言律詩
劉長卿
江州重別薛六柳八二員外
生涯豈料承優詔？ 世事空知學醉歌。
江上月明胡雁過， 淮南木落楚山多。
寄身且喜滄洲近， 顧影無如白髮何！
今日龍鐘人共老， 媿君猶遣慎風波。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Liu Changquing
ON LEAVING GUIJIANG AGAIN TO XUE AND LIU
Dare I, at my age, accept my summons,
Knowing of the world's ways only wine and song?....
Over the moon-edged river come wildgeese from the Tartars;
And the thinner the leaves along the Huai, the wider the southern mountains....
I ought to be glad to take my old bones back to the capital,
But what am I good for in that world, with my few white hairs?....
As bent and decrepit as you are, I am ashamed to thank you,
When you caution me that I may encounter thunderbolts.
七言律詩
劉長卿
長沙過賈誼宅
三年謫宦此棲遲， 萬古惟留楚客悲。
秋草獨尋人去後， 寒林空見日斜時。
漢文有道恩猶薄， 湘水無情弔豈知？
寂寂江山搖落處， 憐君何事到天涯？
Seven-character-regular-verse
Liu Changqing
ON PASSING JIA YI'S HOUSE IN CHANGSHA
Here, where you spent your three years' exile,
To be mourned in Chu ten thousand years,
Can I trace your footprint in the autumn grass --
Or only slanting sunlight through the bleak woods?
If even good Emperor Wen was cold-hearted,
Could you hope that the dull river Xiang would understand you,
These desolate waters, these taciturn mountains,
When you came, like me, so far away?
七言律詩
劉長卿
自夏口至鸚洲夕望岳陽寄源中丞
汀洲無浪復無煙， 楚客相思益渺然。
漢口夕陽斜渡鳥， 洞庭秋水遠連天。
孤城背嶺寒吹角， 獨戍臨江夜泊船。
賈誼上書憂漢室， 長沙謫去古今憐。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Liu Changqing
AN EVENING VIEW OF THE CITY OF YOUZHOU AFTER
COMING FROM HANKOU TO PARROT ISLAND A POEM SENT
TO MY FRIEND GOVERNOR YUAN
No ripples in the river, no mist on the islands,
Yet the landscape is blurred toward my friend in Chu....
Birds in the slanting sun cross Hankou,
And the autumn sky mingles with Lake Dongting.
...From a bleak mountain wall the cold tone of a bugle
Reminds me, moored by a ruined fort,
That Jia Yi's loyal plea to the House of Han
Banned him to Changsha, to be an exile.
七言律詩
錢起
贈闕下裴舍人
二月黃鸝飛上林， 春城紫禁曉陰陰。
長樂鐘聲花外盡， 龍池柳色雨中深。
陽和不散窮途恨， 霄漢長懷捧日心。
獻賦十年猶未遇， 羞將白髮對華簪。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Qian Qi
TO MY FRIEND AT THE CAPITAL SECRETARY PEI
Finches flash yellow through the Imperial Grove
Of the Forbidden City, pale with spring dawn;
Flowers muffle a bell in the Palace of Bliss
And rain has deepened the Dragon Lake willows;
But spring is no help to a man bewildered,
Who would be like a cloud upholding the Light of Heaven,
Yet whose poems, ten years refused, are shaming
These white hairs held by the petalled pin.
七言律詩
韋應物
寄李儋元錫
去年花裡逢君別， 今日花開又一年。
世事茫茫難自料， 春愁黯黯獨成眠。
身多疾病思田里， 邑有流亡愧俸錢。
聞道欲來相問訊， 西樓望月幾回圓。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Wei Yingwu
TO MY FRIENDS LI DAN AND YUANXI
We met last among flowers, among flowers we parted,
And here, a year later, there are flowers again;
But, with ways of the world too strange to foretell,
Spring only brings me grief and fatigue.
I am sick, and I think of my home in the country -
Ashamed to take pay while so many are idle.
...In my western tower, because of your promise,
I have watched the full moons come and go.
七言律詩
韓翃
同題仙游觀
仙臺初見五城樓， 風物淒淒宿雨收。
山色遙連秦樹晚， 砧聲近報漢宮秋。
疏松影落空壇靜， 細草香閑小洞幽。
何用別尋方外去？ 人間亦自有丹丘。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Han Hong
INSCRIBED IN THE TEMPLE OF THE WANDERING GENIE
I face, high over this enchanted lodge, the Court of the Five Cities of Heaven,
And I see a countryside blue and still, after the long rain.
The distant peaks and trees of Qin merge into twilight,
And Had Palace washing-stones make their autumnal echoes.
Thin pine-shadows brush the outdoor pulpit,
And grasses blow their fragrance into my little cave.
...Who need be craving a world beyond this one?
Here, among men, are the Purple Hills
七言律詩
皇甫冉
春思
鶯啼燕語報新年， 馬邑龍堆路幾千。
家住層城鄰漢苑， 心隨明月到胡天。
機中錦字論長恨， 樓上花枝笑獨眠。
為問天戎竇車騎， 何時返旆勒燕然。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Huangfu Ran
SPRING THOUGHTS
Finch-notes and swallow-notes tell the new year....
But so far are the Town of the Horse and the Dragon Mound
From this our house, from these walls and Han Gardens,
That the moon takes my heart to the Tartar sky.
I have woven in the frame endless words of my grieving....
Yet this petal-bough is smiling now on my lonely sleep.
Oh, ask General Dou when his flags will come home
And his triumph be carved on the rock of Yanran mountain!
七言律詩
盧綸
晚次鄂州
雲開遠見漢陽城， 猶是孤帆一日程。
估客晝眠知浪靜， 舟人夜語覺潮生。
三湘愁鬢逢秋色， 萬里歸心對月明。
舊業已隨征戰盡， 更堪江上鼓鼙聲。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Lu Lun
A NIGHT-MOORING AT WUCHANG
Far off in the clouds stand the walls of Hanyang,
Another day's journey for my lone sail....
Though a river-merchant ought to sleep in this calm weather,
I listen to the tide at night and voices of the boatmen.
...My thin hair grows wintry, like the triple Xiang streams,
Three thousand miles my heart goes, homesick with the moon;
But the war has left me nothing of my heritage --
And oh, the pang of hearing these drums along the river!
七言律詩
柳宗元
登柳州城樓寄漳汀封連四州刺史
城上高樓接大荒， 海天愁思正茫茫。
驚風亂颭芙蓉水， 密雨斜侵薜荔牆。
嶺樹重遮千里目， 江流曲似九迴腸。
共來百越文身地， 猶自音書滯一鄉。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Liu Zongyuan
FROM THE CITY-TOWER OF LIUZHOU
TO MY FOUR FELLOW-OFFICIALS AT ZHANG,
DING, FENG, AND LIAN DISTRICTS
At this lofty tower where the town ends, wilderness begins;
And our longing has as far to go as the ocean or the sky....
Hibiscus-flowers by the moat heave in a sudden wind,
And vines along the wall are whipped with slanting rain.
Nothing to see for three hundred miles but a blur of woods and mountain --
And the river's nine loops, twisting in our bowels....
This is where they have sent us, this land of tattooed people --
And not even letters, to keep us in touch with home.
七言律詩
劉禹錫
西塞山懷古
王濬樓船下益州， 金陵王氣黯然收。
千尋鐵鎖沈江底， 一片降旛出石頭。
人世幾回傷往事， 山形依舊枕寒流。
從今四海為家日， 故壘蕭蕭蘆荻秋。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Liu Yuxi
THOUGHTS OF OLD TIME AT WEST FORT MOUNTAIN
Since Wang Jun brought his towering ships down from Yizhou,
The royal ghost has pined in the city of Nanjing.
Ten thousand feet of iron chain were sunk here to the bottom --
And then came the flag of surrender on the Wall of Stone....
Cycles of change have moved into the past,
While still this mountain dignity has commanded the cold river;
And now comes the day of the Chinese world united,
And the old forts fill with ruin and with autumn reeds.
七言律詩
元稹
遣悲懷之一
謝公最小偏憐女， 自嫁黔婁百事乖。
顧我無衣搜藎篋， 泥他沽酒拔金釵。
野蔬充膳甘長藿， 落葉添薪仰古槐。
今日俸錢過十萬， 與君營奠復營齋。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Yuan Zhen
AN ELEGY I
O youngest, best-loved daughter of Xie,
Who unluckily married this penniless scholar,
You patched my clothes from your own wicker basket,
And I coaxed off your hairpins of gold, to buy wine with;
For dinner we had to pick wild herbs --
And to use dry locust-leaves for our kindling.
...Today they are paying me a hundred thousand --
And all that I can bring to you is a temple sacrifice.
七言律詩
元稹
遣悲懷之二
昔日戲言身後事， 今朝都到眼前來。
衣裳已施行看盡， 針線猶存未忍開。
尚想舊情憐婢僕， 也曾因夢送錢財。
誠知此恨人人有， 貧賤夫妻百事哀。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Yuan Zhen
AN ElEGY II
We joked, long ago, about one of us dying,
But suddenly, before my eyes, you are gone.
Almost all your clothes have been given away;
Your needlework is sealed, I dare not look at it....
I continue your bounty to our men and our maids --
Sometimes, in a dream, I bring you gifts.
...This is a sorrow that all mankind must know --
But not as those know it who have been poor together.
七言律詩
元稹
遣悲懷之三
閑坐悲君亦自悲， 百年都是幾多時？
鄧攸無子尋知命， 潘岳悼亡猶費詞。
同穴窅冥何所望？ 他生緣會更難期。
惟將終夜長開眼， 報答平生未展眉。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Yuan Zhen
AN ELEGY III
I sit here alone, mourning for us both.
How many years do I lack now of my threescore and ten?
There have been better men than I to whom heaven denied a son,
There was a poet better than I whose dead wife could not hear him.
What have I to hope for in the darkness of our tomb?
You and I had little faith in a meeting after death -
Yet my open eyes can see all night
That lifelong trouble of your brow.
七言律詩
白居易
自河南經亂，關內阻饑，兄弟離散，各在一處。因望月有感，聊書所懷，寄上浮梁大兄，於潛七兄，烏江十五兄，兼示符離及下邽弟妹。
時難年荒世業空， 弟兄羈旅各西東。
田園寥落干戈後， 骨肉流離道路中。
弔影分為千里雁， 辭根散作九秋蓬。
共看明月應垂淚， 一夜鄉心五處同。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Bai Juyi
TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS ADRIFT
IN TROUBLED TIMES THIS POEM OF THE MOON
Since the disorders in Henan and the famine in Guannei, my brothers and sisters have been scattered. Looking at the moon, I express my thoughts in this poem, which I
send to my eldest brother at Fuliang, my seventh brother at Yuqian, My fifteen brother at Wujiang and my younger brothers and sisters at Fuli and Xiagui.
My heritage lost through disorder and famine,
My brothers and sisters flung eastward and westward,
My fields and gardens wrecked by the war,
My own flesh and blood become scum of the street,
I moan to my shadow like a lone-wandering wildgoose,
I am torn from my root like a water-plant in autumn:
I gaze at the moon, and my tears run down
For hearts, in five places, all sick with one wish.
七言律詩
李商隱
錦瑟
錦瑟無端五十絃， 一絃一柱思華年。
莊生曉夢迷蝴蝶， 望帝春心託杜鵑。
滄海月明珠有淚， 藍田日暖玉生煙。
此情可待成追憶， 只是當時已惘然。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
THE INLAID HARP
I wonder why my inlaid harp has fifty strings,
Each with its flower-like fret an interval of youth.
...The sage Chuangzi is day-dreaming, bewitched by butterflies,
The spring-heart of Emperor Wang is crying in a cuckoo,
Mermen weep their pearly tears down a moon-green sea,
Blue fields are breathing their jade to the sun....
And a moment that ought to have lasted for ever
Has come and gone before I knew.
七言律詩
李商隱
無題
昨夜星辰昨夜風， 畫樓西畔桂堂東。
身無綵鳳雙飛翼， 心有靈犀一點通。
隔座送鉤春酒暖， 分曹射覆蠟燈紅。
嗟余聽鼓應官去， 走馬蘭臺類轉蓬。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED
The stars of last night and the wind of last night
Are west of the Painted Chamber and east of Cinnamon Hall.
...Though I have for my body no wings like those of the bright- coloured phoenix,
Yet I feel the harmonious heart-beat of the Sacred Unicorn.
Across the spring-wine, while it warms me, I prompt you how to bet
Where, group by group, we are throwing dice in the light of a crimson lamp;
Till the rolling of a drum, alas, calls me to my duties
And I mount my horse and ride away, like a water-plant cut adrift.
七言律詩
李商隱
隋宮
紫泉宮殿鎖煙霞， 欲取蕪城作帝家。
玉璽不緣歸日角， 錦帆應是到天涯。
於今腐草無螢火， 終古垂楊有暮鴉。
地下若逢陳後主， 豈宜重問後庭花？
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
THE PALACE OF THE SUI EMPEROR
His Palace of Purple Spring has been taken by mist and cloud,
As he would have taken all Yangzhou to be his private domain
But for the seal of imperial jade being seized by the first Tang Emperor,
He would have bounded with his silken sails the limits of the world.
Fire-flies are gone now, have left the weathered grasses,
But still among the weeping-willows crows perch at twilight.
...If he meets, there underground, the Later Chen Emperor,
Do you think that they will mention a Song of Courtyard Flowers?
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之一
來是空言去絕蹤， 月斜樓上五更鐘。
夢為遠別啼難喚， 書被催成墨未濃。
蠟照半籠金翡翠， 麝熏微度繡芙蓉。
劉郎已恨蓬山遠， 更隔蓬山一萬重。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED I
You said you would come, but you did not, and you left me with no other trace
Than the moonlight on your tower at the fifth-watch bell.
I cry for you forever gone, I cannot waken yet,
I try to read your hurried note, I find the ink too pale.
...Blue burns your candle in its kingfisher-feather lantern
And a sweet breath steals from your hibiscus-broidered curtain.
But far beyond my reach is the Enchanted Mountain,
And you are on the other side, ten thousand peaks away.
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之二
颯颯東風細雨來， 芙蓉塘外有輕雷。
金蟾齧璅燒香入， 玉虎牽絲汲井迴。
賈氏窺簾韓掾少， 宓妃留枕魏王才。
春心莫共花爭發， 一寸想思一寸灰。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED II
A misty rain comes blowing with a wind from the east,
And wheels faintly thunder beyond Hibiscus Pool.
...Round the golden-toad lock, incense is creeping;
The jade tiger tells, on its cord, of water being drawn
A great lady once, from behind a screen, favoured a poor youth;
A fairy queen brought a bridal mat once for the ease of a prince and then vanished.
...Must human hearts blossom in spring, like all other flowers?
And of even this bright flame of love, shall there be only ashes?
七言律詩
李商隱
籌筆驛
猿鳥猶疑畏簡書， 風雲常為護儲胥。
徒令上將揮神筆， 終見降王走傳車。
管樂有才原不忝， 關張無命欲何如？
他年錦里經祠廟， 梁父吟成恨有餘。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
IN THE CAMP OF THE SKETCHING BRUSH
Monkeys and birds are still alert for your orders
And winds and clouds eager to shield your fortress.
...You were master of the brush, and a sagacious general,
But your Emperor, defeated, rode the prison-cart.
You were abler than even the greatest Zhou statesmen,
Yet less fortunate than the two Shu generals who were killed in action.
And, though at your birth-place a temple has been built to you,
You never finished singing your Song of the Holy Mountain
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之三
相見時難別亦難， 東風無力百花殘。
春蠶到死絲方盡， 蠟炬成灰淚始乾。
曉鏡但愁雲鬢改， 夜吟應覺月光寒。
蓬萊此去無多路， 青鳥殷勤為探看。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED III
Time was long before I met her, but is longer since we parted,
And the east wind has arisen and a hundred flowers are gone,
And the silk-worms of spring will weave until they die
And every night the candles will weep their wicks away.
Mornings in her mirror she sees her hair-cloud changing,
Yet she dares the chill of moonlight with her evening song.
...It is not so very far to her Enchanted Mountain
O blue-birds, be listening!-Bring me what she says!
七言律詩
李商隱
春雨
悵臥新春白袷衣， 白門寥落意多違。
紅樓隔雨相望冷， 珠箔飄燈獨自歸。
遠路應悲春晼晚， 殘宵猶得夢依稀。
玉璫緘札何由達， 萬里雲羅一雁飛。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
SPRING RAIN
I am lying in a white-lined coat while the spring approaches,
But am thinking only of the White Gate City where I cannot be.
...There are two red chambers fronting the cold, hidden by the rain,
And a lantern on a pearl screen swaying my lone heart homeward.
...The long road ahead will be full of new hardship,
With, late in the nights, brief intervals of dream.
Oh, to send you this message, this pair of jade earrings! --
I watch a lonely wildgoose in three thousand miles of cloud.
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之四
鳳尾香羅薄幾重， 碧文圓頂夜深縫。
扇裁月魄羞難掩， 車走雷聲語未通。
曾是寂寥金燼暗， 斷無消息石榴紅。
斑騅只繫垂楊岸， 何處西南任好風？
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED IV
A faint phoenix-tail gauze, fragrant and doubled,
Lines your green canopy, closed for the night....
Will your shy face peer round a moon-shaped fan,
And your voice be heard hushing the rattle of my carriage?
It is quiet and quiet where your gold lamp dies,
How far can a pomegranate-blossom whisper?
...I will tether my horse to a river willow
And wait for the will of the southwest wind.
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之五
重帷深下莫愁堂， 臥後清宵細細長。
神女生涯原是夢， 小姑居處本無郎。
風波不信菱枝弱， 月露誰教桂葉香。
直道相思了無益， 未妨惆悵是清狂。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED V
There are many curtains in your care-free house,
Where rapture lasts the whole night long.
...What are the lives of angels but dreams
If they take no lovers into their rooms?
...Storms are ravishing the nut-horns,
Moon- dew sweetening cinnamon-leaves
I know well enough naught can come of this union,
Yet how it serves to ease my heart!
七言律詩
溫庭筠
利洲南渡
澹然空水對斜暉， 曲島蒼茫接翠微。
波上馬嘶看棹去， 柳邊人歇待船歸。
數叢沙草群鷗散， 萬頃江田一鷺飛。
誰解乘舟尋范蠡？ 五湖煙水獨忘機。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Wen Tingyun
NEAR THE LIZHOU FERRY
The sun has set in the water's clear void,
And little blue islands are one with the sky.
On the bank a horse neighs. A boat goes by.
People gather at a willow- clump and wait for the ferry.
Down by the sand-bushes sea-gulls are circling,
Over the wide river-lands flies an egret.
...Can you guess why I sail, like an ancient wise lover,
Through the misty Five Lakes, forgetting words?
七言律詩
溫庭筠
蘇武廟
蘇武魂銷漢使前， 古祠高樹兩茫然。
雲邊雁斷胡天月， 隴上羊歸塞草煙。
迴日樓臺非甲帳， 去時冠劍是丁年。
茂陵不見封侯印， 空向秋波哭逝川。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Wen Tingyun
THE TEMPLE OF SU WU
Though our envoy, Su Wu, is gone, body and soul,
This temple survives, these trees endure....
Wildgeese through the clouds are still calling to the moon there
And hill-sheep unshepherded graze along the border.
...Returning, he found his country changed
Since with youthful cap and sword he had left it.
His bitter adventures had won him no title....
Autumn-waves endlessly sob in the river.
七言律詩
薛逢
宮詞
十二樓中盡曉妝， 望仙樓上望君王。
鎖銜金獸連環冷， 水滴銅龍晝漏長。
雲髻罷梳還對鏡， 羅衣欲換更添香。
遙窺正殿簾開處， 袍褲宮人掃御床。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Xue Feng
A PALACE POEM
In twelve chambers the ladies, decked for the day,
Peer afar for their lord from their Fairy-View Lodge;
The golden toad guards the lock on the door-chain,
And the bronze-dragon water-clock drips through the morning
Till one of them, tilting a mirror, combs her cloud of hair
And chooses new scent and a change of silk raiment;
For she sees, between screen-panels, deep in the palace,
Eunuchs in court-dress preparing a bed.
七言律詩
秦韜玉
貧女
蓬門未識綺羅香， 擬託良媒益自傷。
誰愛風流高格調， 共憐時世儉梳妝。
敢將十指誇鍼巧， 不把雙眉鬥畫長。
苦恨年年壓金線， 為他人作嫁衣裳。
Seven-character-regular-verse
Qin Taoyu
A POOR GIRL
Living under a thatch roof, never wearing fragrant silk,
She longs to arrange a marriage, but how could she dare?
Who would know her simple face the loveliest of them all
When we choose for worldliness, not for worth?
Her fingers embroider beyond compare,
But she cannot vie with painted brows;
And year after year she has sewn gold thread
On bridal robes for other girls.
Folk-song-styled-verse
樂府
沈佺期
盧家少婦鬱金香， 海燕雙棲玳瑁梁。
九月寒砧催木葉， 十年征戍憶遼陽。
白狼河北音書斷， 丹鳳城南秋夜長。
誰為含愁獨不見， 更教明月照流黃。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Shen Quanqi
BEYOND SEEING
A girl of the Lu clan who lives in Golden-Wood Hall,
Where swallows perch in pairs on beams of tortoiseshell,
Hears the washing-mallets' cold beat shake the leaves down.
...The Liaoyang expedition will be gone ten years,
And messages are lost in the White Wolf River.
...Here in the City of the Red Phoenix autumn nights are long,
Where one who is heart-sick to see beyond seeing,
Sees only moonlight on the yellow-silk wave of her loom.
Five-character-quatrain
五言絕句
王維
鹿柴
空山不見人， 但聞人語響。
返景入深林， 復照青苔上。
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.
五言絕句
王維
竹里館
獨坐幽篁裡， 彈琴復長嘯。
深林人不知， 明月來相照。
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.
五言絕句
王維
送別
山中相送罷， 日暮掩柴扉。
春草明年綠， 王孫歸不歸。
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?
五言絕句
王維
相思
紅豆生南國， 春來發幾枝。
願君多采擷， 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.
五言絕句
王維
雜詩
君自故鄉來， 應知故鄉事。
來日綺窗前， 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?
五言絕句
裴迪
送崔九
歸山深淺去， 須盡丘壑美。
莫學武陵人， 暫遊桃源裡。
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.
五言絕句
祖詠
終南望餘雪
終南陰嶺秀， 積雪浮雲端。
林表明霽色， 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.
五言絕句
孟浩然
宿建德江
移舟泊煙渚， 日暮客愁新。
野曠天低樹， 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!
五言絕句
孟浩然
春曉
春眠不覺曉， 處處聞啼鳥。
夜來風雨聲， 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.
五言絕句
李白
夜思
床前明月光， 疑是地上霜。
舉頭望明月， 低頭思故鄉。
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.
五言絕句
李白
怨情
美人捲珠簾， 深坐蹙蛾眉。
但見淚痕濕， 不知心恨誰。
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.
五言絕句
杜甫
八陣圖
功蓋三分國， 名成八陣圖。
江流石不轉， 遺恨失吞吳。
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.
五言絕句
王之渙
登鸛雀樓
白日依山盡， 黃河入海流。
欲窮千里目， 更上一層樓。
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.
五言絕句
劉長卿
送靈澈
蒼蒼竹林寺， 杳杳鐘聲晚。
荷笠帶斜陽， 青山獨歸遠。
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.
五言絕句
劉長卿
彈琴
泠泠七絃上， 靜聽松風寒。
古調雖自愛， 今人多不彈。
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.
五言絕句
劉長卿
送上人
孤雲將野鶴， 豈向人間住。
莫買沃洲山， 時人已知處。
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?
五言絕句
韋應物
秋夜寄邱員外
懷君屬秋夜， 散步詠涼天。
空山松子落， 幽人應未眠。
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.
五言絕句
李端
聽箏
鳴箏金粟柱， 素手玉房前。
欲得周郎顧， 時時誤拂絃。
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.
五言絕句
王建
新嫁娘
三日入廚下， 洗手作羹湯。
未諳姑食性， 先遣小姑嘗。
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 husband's young sister shall have the fiat taste.
五言絕句
權德輿
玉臺體
昨夜裙帶解， 今朝蟢子飛。
鉛華不可棄， 莫是□砧歸。
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.
五言絕句
柳宗元
江雪
千山鳥飛絕， 萬徑人蹤滅。
孤舟簑笠翁， 獨釣寒江雪。
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.
五言絕句
元稹
行宮
寥落古行宮， 宮花寂寞紅。
白頭宮女在， 閒坐說玄宗。
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.
五言絕句
白居易
問劉十九
綠螘新醅酒， 紅泥小火爐。
晚來天欲雪， 能飲一杯無。
Five-character-quatrain
Bai Juyi
A SUGGESTION TO MY FRIEND LIU
There's a gleam of green in an old bottle,
There's a stir of red in the quiet stove,
There's a feeling of snow in the dusk outside --
What about a cup of wine inside?
五言絕句
張祜
何滿子
故國三千里， 深宮二十年。
一聲何滿子， 雙淚落君前。
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.
五言絕句
李商隱
登樂遊原
向晚意不適， 驅車登古原。
夕陽無限好， 只是近黃昏。
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.
五言絕句
賈島
尋隱者不遇
松下問童子， 言師採藥去。
只在此山中， 雲深不知處。
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 ?"
五言絕句
李頻
渡漢江
嶺外音書絕， 經冬復立春。
近鄉情更怯， 不敢問來人。
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.
五言絕句
金昌緒
春怨
打起黃鶯兒， 莫教枝上啼。
啼時驚妾夢， 不得到遼西。
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
五言絕句
西鄙人
哥舒歌
北斗七星高， 哥舒夜帶刀。
至今窺牧馬， 不敢過臨洮。
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.
Folk-song-styled-verse
樂府
崔顥
長干行二首之一
君家何處住， 妾住在橫塘。
停船暫借問， 或恐是同鄉。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Cui Hao
A SONG OF CHANGGAN I
"Tell me, where do you live? --
Near here, by the fishing-pool?
Let's hold our boats together, let's see
If we belong in the same town."
樂府
崔顥
長干行二首之二
家臨九江水， 來去九江側。
同是長干人， 生小不相識。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Cui Hao
A SONG OF CHANGGAN II
"Yes, I live here, by the river;
I have sailed on it many and many a time.
Both of us born in Changgan, you and I!
Why haven't we always known each other?"
樂府
李白
玉階怨
玉階生白露， 夜久侵羅襪。
卻下水晶簾， 玲瓏望秋月。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SIGH FROM A STAIRCASE OF JADE
Her jade-white staircase is cold with dew;
Her silk soles are wet, she lingered there so long....
Behind her closed casement, why is she still waiting,
Watching through its crystal pane the glow of the autumn moon?
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之一
鷲翎金僕姑， 燕尾繡蝥弧。
獨立揚新令， 千營共一呼。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS I
His golden arrow is tipped with hawk's feathers,
His embroidered silk flag has a tail like a swallow.
One man, arising, gives a new order
To the answering shout of a thousand tents.
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之二
林暗草驚風， 將軍夜引弓。
平明尋白羽， 沒在石稜中。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS II
The woods are black and a wind assails the grasses,
Yet the general tries night archery --
And next morning he finds his white-plumed arrow
Pointed deep in the hard rock.
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之三
月黑雁飛高， 單于夜遁逃。
欲將輕騎逐， 大雪滿弓刀。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS III
High in the faint moonlight, wildgeese are soaring.
Tartar chieftains are fleeing through the dark --
And we chase them, with horses lightly burdened
And a burden of snow on our bows and our swords.
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之四
野幕蔽瓊筵， 羌戎賀勞旋。
醉和金甲舞， 雷鼓動山川。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS IV
Let feasting begin in the wild camp!
Let bugles cry our victory!
Let us drink, let us dance in our golden armour!
Let us thunder on rivers and hills with our drums!
樂府
李益
江南曲
嫁得瞿塘賈， 朝朝誤妾期。
早知潮有信， 嫁與弄潮兒。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Yi
A SONG OF THE SOUTHERN RIVER
Since I married the merchant of Qutang
He has failed each day to keep his word....
Had I thought how regular the tide is,
I might rather have chosen a river-boy.
Seven-character-quatrain
七言絕句
賀知章
回鄉偶書
少小離家老大回， 鄉音無改鬢毛衰；
兒童相見不相識， 笑問客從何處來。
Seven-character-quatrain
He Zhizhang
COMING HOME
I left home young. I return old;
Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin;
And my children, meeting me, do not know me.
They smile and say: "Stranger, where do you come from?"
七言絕句
張旭
桃花
隱隱飛橋隔野煙， 石磯西畔問漁船；
桃花盡日隨流水， 洞在清谿何處邊？
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Xu
PEACH-BLOSSOM RIVER
A bridge flies away through a wild mist,
Yet here are the rocks and the fisherman's boat.
Oh, if only this river of floating peach-petals
Might lead me at last to the mythical cave!
七言絕句
王維
九月九日憶山東兄弟
獨在異鄉為異客， 每逢佳節倍思親。
遙知兄弟登高處， 遍插茱萸少一人。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
ON THE MOUNTAIN HOLIDAY
THINKING OF MY BROTHERS IN SHANDONG
All alone in a foreign land,
I am twice as homesick on this day
When brothers carry dogwood up the mountain,
Each of them a branch-and my branch missing.
七言絕句
王昌齡
芙蓉樓送辛漸
寒雨連江夜入吳， 平明送客楚山孤。
洛陽親友如相問， 一片冰心在玉壺。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Changling
AT HIBISCUS INN
PARTING WITH XIN JIAN
With this cold night-rain hiding the river, you have come into Wu.
In the level dawn, all alone, you will be starting for the mountains of Chu.
Answer, if they ask of me at Loyang:
"One-hearted as ice in a crystal vase."
七言絕句
王昌齡
閨怨
閨中少婦不知愁， 春日凝妝上翠樓。
忽見陌頭楊柳色， 悔教夫婿覓封侯。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Changling
IN HER QUIET WINDOW
Too young to have learned what sorrow means,
Attired for spring, she climbs to her high chamber....
The new green of the street-willows is wounding her heart --
Just for a title she sent him to war.
七言絕句
王昌齡
春宮曲
昨夜風開露井桃， 未央前殿月輪高。
平陽歌舞新承寵， 簾外春寒賜錦袍。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Changling
A SONG OF THE SPRING PALACE
Last night, while a gust blew peach-petals open
And the moon shone high on the Palace Beyond Time,
The Emperor gave Pingyang, for her dancing,
Brocades against the cold spring-wind.
七言絕句
王翰
涼州詞
葡萄美酒夜光杯， 欲飲琵琶馬上催。
醉臥沙場君莫笑， 古來征戰幾人回。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Han
A SONG OF LIANGZHOU
They sing, they drain their cups of jade,
They strum on horseback their guitars.
...Why laugh when they fall asleep drunk on the sand ? --
How many soldiers ever come home?
七言絕句
李白
送孟浩然之廣陵
故人西辭黃鶴樓， 煙花三月下揚州。
孤帆遠影碧空盡， 惟見長江天際流。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Bai
A FAREWELL TO MENG HAORAN
ON HIS WAY TO YANGZHOU
You have left me behind, old friend, at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
On your way to visit Yangzhou in the misty month of flowers;
Your sail, a single shadow, becomes one with the blue sky,
Till now I see only the river, on its way to heaven.
七言絕句
李白
下江陵
朝辭白帝彩雲間， 千里江陵一日還。
兩岸猿聲啼不住， 輕舟已過萬重山。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Bai
THROUGH THE YANGZI GORGES
From the walls of Baidi high in the coloured dawn
To Jiangling by night-fall is three hundred miles,
Yet monkeys are still calling on both banks behind me
To my boat these ten thousand mountains away.
七言絕句
岑參
逢入京使
故園東望路漫漫， 雙袖龍鐘淚不乾。
馬上相逢無紙筆， 憑君傳語報平安。
Seven-character-quatrain
Cen Can
ON MEETING A MESSENGER TO THE CAPITAL
It's a long way home, a long way east.
I am old and my sleeve is wet with tears.
We meet on horseback. I have no means of writing.
Tell them three words: "He is safe."
七言絕句
杜甫
江南逢李龜年
岐王宅裡尋常見， 崔九堂前幾度聞。
正是江南好風景， 落花時節又逢君。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Fu
ON MEETING LI GUINIAN DOWN THE RIVER
I met you often when you were visiting princes
And when you were playing in noblemen's halls.
...Spring passes.... Far down the river now,
I find you alone under falling petals.
七言絕句
韋應物
滁州西澗
獨憐幽草澗邊生， 上有黃鸝深樹鳴。
春潮帶雨晚來急， 野渡無人舟自橫。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wei Yingwu
AT CHUZHOU ON THE WESTERN STREAM
Where tender grasses rim the stream
And deep boughs trill with mango-birds,
On the spring flood of last night's rain
The ferry-boat moves as though someone were poling.
七言絕句
張繼
楓橋夜泊
月落烏啼霜滿天， 江楓漁火對愁眠。
姑蘇城外寒山寺， 夜半鐘聲到客船。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Ji
A NIGHT-MOORING NEAR MAPLE BRIDGE
While I watch the moon go down, a crow caws through the frost;
Under the shadows of maple-trees a fisherman moves with his torch;
And I hear, from beyond Suzhou, from the temple on Cold Mountain,
Ringing for me, here in my boat, the midnight bell.
七言絕句
韓翃
寒食
春城無處不飛花， 寒食東風御柳斜。
日暮漢宮傳蠟燭， 輕煙散入五侯家。
Seven-character-quatrain
Han Hong
AFTER THE DAY OF NO FIRE
Petals of spring fly all through the city
From the wind in the willows of the Imperial River.
And at dusk, from the palace, candles are given out
To light first the mansions of the Five Great Lords.
七言絕句
劉方平
月夜
更深月色半人家， 北斗闌干南斗斜。
今夜偏知春氣暖， 蟲聲新透綠窗沙。
Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Fangping
A MOONLIGHT NIGHT
When the moon has coloured half the house,
With the North Star at its height and the South Star setting,
I can fed the first motions of the warm air of spring
In the singing of an insect at my green-silk window.
七言絕句
劉方平
春怨
紗窗日落漸黃昏， 金屋無人見淚痕。
寂寞空庭春欲晚， 梨花滿地不開門。
Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Fangping
SPRING HEART-BREAK
With twilight passing her silken window,
She weeps alone in her chamber of gold
For spring is departing from a desolate garden,
And a drift of pear-petals is closing a door.
七言絕句
柳中庸
征人怨
歲歲金河復玉關， 朝朝馬策與刀環。
三春白雪歸青塚， 萬里黃河繞黑山。
Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Zhongyong
A TROOPER'S BURDEN
For years, to guard the Jade Pass and the River of Gold,
With our hands on our horse-whips and our swordhilts,
We have watched the green graves change to snow
And the Yellow Stream ring the Black Mountain forever.
七言絕句
顧況
宮詞
玉樓天半起笙歌， 風送宮嬪笑語和。
月殿影開聞夜漏， 水晶簾捲近秋河。
Seven-character-quatrain
Gu Kuang
A PALACE POEM
High above, from a jade chamber, songs float half-way to heaven,
The palace-girls' gay voices are mingled with the wind --
But now they are still, and you hear a water-clock drip in the Court of the Moon....
They have opened the curtain wide, they are facing the River of Stars.
七言絕句
李益
夜上受降城聞笛
回樂峰前沙似雪， 受降城外月如霜。
不知何處吹蘆管， 一夜征人盡望鄉。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Yi
ON HEARING A FLUTE AT NIGHT
FROM THE WALL OF SHOUXIANG
The sand below the border-mountain lies like snow,
And the moon like frost beyond the city-wall,
And someone somewhere, playing a flute,
Has made the soldiers homesick all night long.
七言絕句
劉禹錫
烏衣巷
朱雀橋邊野草花， 烏衣巷口夕陽斜。
舊時王謝堂前燕， 飛入尋常百姓家。
Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Yuxi
BLACKTAIL ROW
Grass has run wild now by the Bridge of Red-Birds;
And swallows' wings, at sunset, in Blacktail Row
Where once they visited great homes,
Dip among doorways of the poor.
七言絕句
劉禹錫
春詞
新妝宜面下朱樓， 深鎖春光一院愁。
行到中庭數花朵， 蜻蜓飛上玉搔頭。
Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Yuxi
A SPRING SONG
In gala robes she comes down from her chamber
Into her courtyard, enclosure of spring....
When she tries from the centre to count the flowers,
On her hairpin of jade a dragon-fly poises.
七言絕句
白居易
後宮詞
淚濕羅巾夢不成， 夜深前殿按歌聲。
紅顏未老恩先斷， 斜倚薰籠坐到明。
Seven-character-quatrain
Bai Juyi
A SONG OF THE PALACE
Her tears are spent, but no dreams come.
She can hear the others singing through the night.
She has lost his love. Alone with her beauty,
She leans till dawn on her incense-pillow.
七言絕句
張祜
贈內人
禁門宮樹月痕過， 媚眼惟看宿鷺窠。
斜拔玉釵燈影畔， 剔開紅燄救飛蛾。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
OF ONE IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY
When the moonlight, reaching a tree by the gate,
Shows her a quiet bird on its nest,
She removes her jade hairpins and sits in the shadow
And puts out a flame where a moth was flying.
七言絕句
張祜
集靈臺之一
日光斜照集靈台， 紅樹花迎曉露開。
昨夜上皇新授籙， 太真含笑入簾來。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
ON THE TERRACE OF ASSEMBLED ANGELS I
The sun has gone slanting over a lordly roof
And red-blossoming branches have leaned toward the dew
Since the Emperor last night summoned a new favourite
And Lady Yang's bright smile came through the curtains.
七言絕句
張祜
集靈臺之二
虢國夫人承主恩， 平明騎馬入宮門。
卻嫌脂粉污顏色， 淡掃蛾眉朝至尊。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
ON THE TERRACE OF ASSEMBLED ANGELS II
The Emperor has sent for Lady Guoguo.
In the morning, riding toward the palace-gate,
Disdainful of the paint that might have marred her beauty,
To meet him she smooths her two moth-tiny eyebrows.
七言絕句
張祜
題金陵渡
金陵津渡小山樓， 一宿行人自可愁。
潮落夜江斜月裡， 兩三星火是瓜州。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
AT NANJING FERRY
This one-story inn at Nanjing ferry
Is a miserable lodging-place for the night --
But across the dead moon's ebbing tide,
Lights from Guazhou beckon on the river.
七言絕句
朱慶餘
宮詞
寂寂花時閉院門， 美人相並立瓊軒。
含情欲說宮中事， 鸚鵡前頭不敢言。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhu Qingyu
A SONG OF THE PALACE
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.
七言絕句
朱慶餘
近試上張水部
洞房昨夜停紅燭， 待曉堂前拜舅姑。
妝罷低聲問夫婿， 畫眉深淺入時無。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhu Qingyu
ON THE EVE OF GOVERNMENT EXAMINATIONS
TO SECRETARY ZHANG
Out go the great red wedding-chamber candles.
Tomorrow in state the bride faces your parents.
She has finished preparing; she asks of you meekly
Whether her eyebrows are painted in fashion.
七言絕句
杜牧
將赴吳興登樂遊原
清時有味是無能， 閒愛孤雲靜愛僧。
欲把一麾江海去， 樂遊原上望昭陵。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
I CLIMB TO THE LEYOU TOMBS
BEFORE LEAVING FOR WUXING
Even in this good reign, how can I serve?
The lone cloud rather, the Buddhist peace....
Once more, before crossing river and sea,
I face the great Emperor's mountain-tomb.
七言絕句
杜牧
赤壁
折戟沈沙鐵未銷， 自將磨洗認前朝。
東風不與周郎便，銅雀春深鎖二喬。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
BY THE PURPLE CLIFF
On a part of a spear still unrusted in the sand
I have burnished the symbol of an ancient kingdom....
Except for a wind aiding General Zhou Yu,
Spring would have sealed both Qiao girls in CopperBird Palace.
七言絕句
杜牧
泊秦淮
煙籠寒水月籠沙， 夜泊秦淮近酒家。
商女不知亡國恨， 隔江猶唱後庭花。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
A MOORING ON THE QIN HUAI RIVER
Mist veils the cold stream, and moonlight the sand,
As I moor in the shadow of a river-tavern,
Where girls, with no thought of a perished kingdom,
Gaily echo A Song of Courtyard Flowers.
七言絕句
杜牧
寄揚州韓綽判官
青山隱隱水迢迢， 秋盡江南草未凋。
二十四橋明月夜， 玉人何處教吹簫。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
A MESSAGE TO HAN CHO THE YANGZHOU MAGISTRATE
There are faint green mountains and far green waters,
And grasses in this river region not yet faded by autumn;
And clear in the moon on the Twenty-Four Bridges,
Girls white as jade are teaching flute-music.
七言絕句
杜牧
遣懷
落魄江湖載酒行， 楚腰纖細掌中輕。
十年一覺揚州夢， 贏得青樓薄倖名。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
A CONFESSION
With my wine-bottle, watching by river and lake
For a lady so tiny as to dance on my palm,
I awake, after dreaming ten years in Yangzhou,
Known as fickle, even in the Street of Blue Houses.
七言絕句
杜牧
秋夕
銀燭秋光冷畫屏， 輕羅小扇撲流螢。
天階夜色涼如水， 坐看牽牛織女星。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
IN THE AUTUMN NIGHT
Her candle-light is silvery on her chill bright screen.
Her little silk fan is for fireflies....
She lies watching her staircase cold in the moon,
And two stars parted by the River of Heaven.
七言絕句
杜牧
贈別之一
娉娉嫋嫋十三餘， 豆蔻梢頭二月初。
春風十里揚州路， 卷上珠簾總不如。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
PARTING I
She is slim and supple and not yet fourteen,
The young spring-tip of a cardamon-spray.
On the Yangzhou Road for three miles in the breeze
Every pearl-screen is open. But there's no one like her.
七言絕句
杜牧
贈別之二
多情卻似總無情， 唯覺樽前笑不成。
蠟燭有心還惜別， 替人垂淚到天明。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
Parting II
How can a deep love seem deep love,
How can it smile, at a farewell feast?
Even the candle, feeling our sadness,
Weeps, as we do, all night long.
七言絕句
杜牧
金谷園
繁華事散逐香塵， 流水無情草自春。
日暮東風怨啼鳥， 落花猶似墜樓人。
Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
THE GARDEN OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY
Stories of passion make sweet dust,
Calm water, grasses unconcerned.
At sunset, when birds cry in the wind,
Petals are falling like a girl s robe long ago.
七言絕句
李商隱
夜雨寄北
君問歸期未有期， 巴山夜雨漲秋池。
何當共剪西窗燭， 卻話巴山夜雨時。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
NOTE ON A RAINY NIGHT TO A FRIEND IN THE NORTH
You ask me when I am coming. I do not know.
I dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night with the rain.
Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again, together in your western window?
When shall I be hearing your voice again, all night in the rain?
七言絕句
李商隱
寄令狐郎中
嵩雲秦樹久離居， 雙鯉迢迢一紙筆。
休問梁園舊賓客， 茂陵秋雨病相如。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
A MESSAGE TO SECRETARY LINGHU
I am far from the clouds of Sung Mountain, a long way from trees in Qin;
And I send to you a message carried by two carp:
-- Absent this autumn from the Prince's garden,
There's a poet at Maoling sick in the rain.
七言絕句
李商隱
為有
為有雲屏無限嬌， 鳳城寒盡怕春宵。
無端嫁得金龜婿， 辜負香衾事早朝。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
THERE IS ONLY ONE
There is only one Carved-Cloud, exquisite always -
Yet she dreads the spring, blowing cold in the palace,
When her husband, a Knight of the Golden Tortoise,
Will leave her sweet bed, to be early at court.
七言絕句
李商隱
隋宮
乘興南遊不戒嚴， 九重誰省諫書函。
春風舉國裁宮錦， 半作障泥半作帆。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
THE SUI PALACE
When gaily the Emperor toured the south
Contrary to every warning,
His whole empire cut brocades,
Half for wheel-guards, half for sails.
七言絕句
李商隱
瑤池
瑤池阿母綺窗開， 黃竹歌聲動地哀。
八駿日行三萬里， 穆王何事不重來。
Seven-character-quatrain
LI SHANGYIN
THE JADE POOL
The Mother of Heaven, in her window by the Jade Pool,
Hears The Yellow Bamboo Song shaking the whole earth.
Where is Emperor Mu, with his eight horses running
Ten thousand miles a day? Why has he never come back?
七言絕句
李商隱
嫦娥
雲母屏風燭影深， 長河漸落曉星沈。
嫦娥應悔偷靈藥， 碧海青天夜夜心。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
TO THE MOON GODDESS
Now that a candle-shadow stands on the screen of carven marble
And the River of Heaven slants and the morning stars are low,
Are you sorry for having stolen the potion that has set you
Over purple seas and blue skies, to brood through the long nights?
七言絕句
李商隱
賈生
宣室求賢訪逐臣， 賈生才調更無倫。
可憐夜半虛前席， 不問蒼生問鬼神。
Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
JIASHENG
When the Emperor sought guidance from wise men, from exiles,
He found no calmer wisdom than that of young Jia
And assigned him the foremost council-seat at midnight,
Yet asked him about gods, instead of about people.
七言絕句
溫庭筠
瑤瑟怨
冰簟銀床夢不成， 碧天如水夜雲輕。
雁聲遠過瀟湘去， 十二樓中月自明。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wen Tingyun
SHE SIGHS ON HER JADE LUTE
A cool-matted silvery bed; but no dreams....
An evening sky as green as water, shadowed with tender clouds;
But far off over the southern rivers the calling of a wildgoose,
And here a twelve-story building, lonely under the moon.
七言絕句
鄭畋
馬嵬坡
玄宗回馬楊妃死， 雲雨難忘日月新。
終是聖明天子事， 景陽宮井又何人。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zheng Tian
ON MAWEI SLOPE
When the Emperor came back from his ride they had murdered Lady Yang --
That passion unforgettable through all the suns and moons
They had led him to forsake her by reminding him
Of an emperor slain with his lady once, in a well at Jingyang Palace.
七言絕句
韓偓
已涼
碧闌干外繡簾垂， 猩色屏風畫折枝。
八尺龍鬚方錦褥， 已涼天氣未寒時。
Seven-character-quatrain
Han Wu
COOLER WEATHER
Her jade-green alcove curtained thick with silk,
Her vermilion screen with its pattern of flowers,
Her eight- foot dragon-beard mat and her quilt brocaded in squares
Are ready now for nights that are neither warm nor cold.
七言絕句
韋莊
金陵圖
江雨霏霏江草齊， 六朝如夢鳥空啼。
無情最是臺城柳， 依舊煙籠十里堤。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wei Zhuang
A NANJING LANDSCAPE
Though a shower bends the river-grass, a bird is singing,
While ghosts of the Six Dynasties pass like a dream
Around the Forbidden City, under weeping willows
Which loom still for three miles along the misty moat.
七言絕句
陳陶
隴西行
誓掃匈奴不顧身， 五千貂錦喪胡塵。
可憐無定河邊骨， 猶是深閨夢裡人。
Seven-character-quatrain
Chen Tao
TURKESTAN
Thinking only of their vow that they would crush the Tartars - -
On the desert, clad in sable and silk, five thousand of them fell....
But arisen from their crumbling bones on the banks of the river at the border,
Dreams of them enter, like men alive, into rooms where their loves lie sleeping.
七言絕句
張泌
寄人
別夢依依到謝家， 小廊回合曲闌斜。
多情只有春庭月， 猶為離人照落花。
Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Bi
A MESSAGE
I go in a dream to the house of Xie
Through a zigzag porch with arching rails
To a court where the spring moon lights for ever
Phantom flowers and a single figure.
七言絕句
無名氏
雜詩
盡寒食雨草萋萋， 著麥苗風柳映堤。
等是有家歸未得， 杜鵑休向耳邊啼。
Seven-character-quatrain
Wumingshi
THE DAY OF NO FIRE
As the holiday approaches, and grasses are bright after rain,
And the causeway gleams with willows, and wheatfields wave in the wind,
We are thinking of our kinsfolk, far away from us.
O cuckoo, why do you follow us, why do you call us home?
Folk-song-styled-verse
樂府
王維
渭城曲
渭城朝雨浥輕塵， 客舍青青柳色新。
勸君更盡一杯酒， 西出陽關無故人。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG AT WEICHENG
A morning-rain has settled the dust in Weicheng;
Willows are green again in the tavern dooryard....
Wait till we empty one more cup --
West of Yang Gate there'll be no old friends.
樂府
王維
秋夜曲
桂魄初生秋露微， 輕羅已薄未更衣。
銀箏夜久殷勤弄， 心怯空房不忍歸。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG OF AN AUTUMN NIGHT
Under the crescent moon a light autumn dew
Has chilled the robe she will not change --
And she touches a silver lute all night,
Afraid to go back to her empty room.
樂府
王昌齡
長信怨
奉帚平明金殿開， 且將團扇共徘徊。
玉顏不及寒鴉色， 猶帶昭陽日影來。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Changling
A SIGH IN THE COURT OF PERPETUAL FAITH
She brings a broom at dawn to the Golden Palace doorway
And dusts the hall from end to end with her round fan,
And, for all her jade-whiteness, she envies a crow
Whose cold wings are kindled in the Court of the Bright Sun.
樂府
王昌齡
出塞
秦時明月漢時關， 萬里長征人未還。
但使龍城飛將在， 不教胡馬渡陰山。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Changling
OVER THE BORDER
The moon goes back to the time of Qin, the wall to the time of Han,
And the road our troops are travelling goes back three hundred miles....
Oh, for the Winged General at the Dragon City --
That never a Tartar horseman might cross the Yin Mountains!
樂府
王之渙
出塞
黃河遠上白雲間， 一片孤城萬仞山。
羌笛何須怨楊柳， 春風不度玉門關。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Zhihuan
BEYOND THE BORDER
Where a yellow river climbs to the white clouds,
Near the one city-wall among ten-thousand-foot mountains,
A Tartar under the willows is lamenting on his flute
That spring never blows to him through the Jade Pass
樂府
李白
清平調之一
雲想衣裳花想容， 春風拂檻露華濃。
若非群玉山頭見， 會向瑤臺月下逢。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF PURE HAPPINESS I
Her robe is a cloud, her face a flower;
Her balcony, glimmering with the bright spring dew,
Is either the tip of earth's Jade Mountain
Or a moon- edged roof of paradise.
樂府
李白
清平調之二
一枝紅豔露凝香， 雲雨巫山枉斷腸。
借問漢宮誰得似， 可憐飛燕倚新妝。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF PURE HAPPINESS II
There's a perfume stealing moist from a shaft of red blossom,
And a mist, through the heart, from the magical Hill of Wu - -
The palaces of China have never known such beauty -
Not even Flying Swallow with all her glittering garments.
樂府
李白
清平調之三
名花傾國兩相歡， 常得君王帶笑看。
解釋春風無限恨， 沈香亭北倚闌干。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF PURE HAPPINESS III
Lovely now together, his lady and his flowers
Lighten for ever the Emperor's eye,
As he listens to the sighing of the far spring wind
Where she leans on a railing in the Aloe Pavilion.
樂府
杜秋娘
金縷衣
勸君莫惜金縷衣， 勸君惜取少年時。
花開堪折直須折， 莫待無花空折枝。
Folk-song-styled-verse
Du Qiuniang
THE GOLD-THREADED ROBE
Covet not a gold-threaded robe,
Cherish only your young days!
If a bud open, gather it --
Lest you but wait for an empty bough.