Mountain Tour – Du Mu

Far up the cold mountain a path of stone is slanting.

Even here among white clouds the homes of men are growing.

I stop my cart to rest awhile, the maple woods admiring,

The frosted red leaves like spring flowers blossoming

山行                              Shan1 Xing2

远上寒山石径斜           Yuan1 shang4 han2 shan1 shi2 jing4 xie2
白云生处有人家           Bai2 yun2 sheng1 chu4 you3 ren2 jia
停车坐爱枫林晚           Ting2 che1 zuo4 ai4 feng1 lin2 wan3
霜叶红于二月花           Shuang1 ye4 hong2 yu2 er4 yue4 hua1

Mountain Tour

Far up cold mountain stone path slanting

White cloud exist place has men’s homes

Stop cart sit love maple forest evening

Frost leaf red in February flowers.

Note:  There must be dozens of Chinese paintings showing the mountains, the clouds, the slanted path, the village clinging to the side of the mountain, the maple trees.  I chose from my own photos, taken in Nepal and in Japan.

“er yue”  translates to “February”, but since at the time Du Mu wrote he used the lunar calendar,  the modern time would be early March, when the first flowers poke up through the snow and sludge.

A Visit to Qiantang Lake – Bai Juyi

A Spring Visit to QianTang Lake

Gu Shan temple to the north, to the west the Jia Pavilion.
The clouds hang low above the lake’s calm shallows.
In the sun-warmed trees  warblers sing in competition
In the mud around each house peck  returning swallows.A riot of flowers almost overwhelms the eye.
New grass hides the traces of horses going by.
I never tire of visiting my loved east lake
In the shade of green poplars  on the white sand dyke.

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A Visit to Qiantang Lake in Spring
Bai Juyi
钱唐湖春行              qián táng hú chūn xíng

孤山寺北贾亭西      gū shān sì běi jiǎ tíng xī
水面初平云脚低      shuǐ miàn chū píng yún jiǎo dī
几处早莺争暖树      jǐ chù zǎo yīng zhēng nuǎn shù
谁家新燕啄春泥      shuí jiā xīn yàn zhuó chūn ní
乱花渐欲迷人眼      luàn huā jiàn yù mí rén yǎn
浅草才能没马蹄      qiǎn cǎo cái néng mò mǎ tí
最爱湖东行不足      zuì ài hú dōng xíng bù zú
绿杨阴里白沙堤      lǜ yáng yīn lǐ bái shā dī

Gushan temple north Jiating west
Water surface first flat cloud base low
Several places early orioles fight warm tree
Every house new swallows peck spring mud
Disordered flowers gradually almost confuse person eye
Light grass able hide horse hoof
Most love lake east go not enough
Green poplar shade in white sand causeway

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I wonder where in modern China one could go to find the

natural beauty and tranquility that Bai Juyi sees at his

“most loved eastern lake”? Are “disorderly flowers” allowed in the

planned economy?

“Autumn Evening” – Du Fu – A free translation

Poem by Du Mu

The autumn’s silvery brightness frosts the  screen.
She swats at lingering  fireflies, with her silken fan unfurled.
Night brings  the street of stars’ cool watery gleam.
She spies among the stars the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

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秋夕   Qiu1 xi1
Autumn Evening

银烛 秋光冷画屏，  yin2 zhu2 qin1guang1 leng3 hua4 ping2
Silver candle autumn brightness frosty painted screen

轻罗小扇扑流萤。  qing1 luo2 xiao3 shan4 pu1 liu2 ying2.
Soft silk little fan pounce on firefly

天街夜色凉如水，  tian1 jie1 ye4 se4 liang2 ru2 shui3,
Sky street dim light of night becomes cool like water

卧看牵牛织女星    Wo4 kan4 qian1 niu2 zhi1 nu3 xing1.
Recline see the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl stars

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Prose translation:

A silver candle, Autumn brightness frosts the painted screen
A small silken fan  attacks the fireflies.
In the dim light of night the sky street gleams cool like water.
Lying on her back she sees the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl.

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Note:  The Cowherd (the star  Altair) and the Weaver Girl (the star Vega) are mythic lovers, separated by the Silver River (the Milky Way) for all but one day a year, when  a bridge of magpies forms across the river, allowing them to meet.

Note #2: My mentor Tang Tao has given me these helpful translation notes:

轻罗: soft silk product
卧看: sit and watch

She also tells me that a “fan in the autumn” is a metaphor for an abandoned palace maid, which certainly puts a different twist on the girl looking at the tragically separated lovers among the stars.

With this new input I have modified my earlier translation .  It would take a lot more words in English to make the metaphor clear, even if the reader understands about the legend of the Cowherd and Weaver Girl.  A practical streak in me also objects to fireflies in the Autumn – in my part of the world they appear on warm summer nights and disappear with the first frost. So I have clarified that they are perhaps the last of the season, and she swats at them impatiently, as they perhaps remind her of the happier summer.

Any more thoughts?

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