|
Selected Poems from Nineteen Old Poems (Eastern Han Dynasty, 25 - 220 A.C.)
|
|
来源：文摘 作者：国学 发布时间：2007-03-16
|
|
Selected Poems from Nineteen Old Poems (Eastern Han Dynasty, 25 - 220 A.C.)
translated by Burton Watson except No. 10 and 15 by John A. Turner
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. On and On, Going On and On
2. Green Green, River Bank Grasses
3. Green Green, the Cypress on the Ridge
4. We Hold a Splendid Feast Today
5. Northwest the Tall Tower Stands
7. Clear Moon Brightly Shining in the Night
8. Frail Frail, Lone-growing Bamboo
9. In the Garden a Strange Tree Grows
10. Far in the Skies Is the Cowherd Star
11. I Turn the Carriage, Yoke and Set Off
13. I Drive My Carriage from the Upper East Gate
15. Life That's Scarce a Hundred Years
17. First Month of Winter: Cold Air Comes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NO.1
On and On, Going On and On
On and on, going on and on, 国_学_参_考
away from you to live apart,
ten thousand li* and more between us,
each at opposite ends of the sky.
The road I travel is steep and long;
who knows when we meet again?
The Hu horse leans into the north wind;
the Yueh** bird nests in southern branches:
day by day our parting grows more distant;
day by day robe and belt dangle looser.
Shifting clouds block the white sun;
the traveler does not look to return.
Thinking of you makes one old;
years and months suddenly go by.
Abandoned, I will say no more
but pluck up strength and eat my fill.
* Earlier poetry and prose had been content to express the idea of great distance by the phrase "one thousand li," but with Chinese expansion into Korea and southeast China and increased knowledge of the states of Central Asia, this no doubt came to seem inadequate. For the Han people, with their penchant for hyperbole, nothing less than "ten thousand li or more" would do. A li is approximately one third of a mile. zgwww.com
** Hu and Yueh: Hu, a general term for the area north of China from Korea west to Tibet, is paralleled by Yueh, a designation for the area around the mouth of the Yangtze, a region which, in earlier centuries at least, was looked on as the southernmost limit of civilization.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No.2
Green Green, River Bank Grasses
Green green, river bank grasses,
thick thick, willows in the garden;
Plump plump, that lady upstairs,
bright bright, before the window;
lovely lovely, her red face-powder;
slim slim, she puts out a white hand.
Once I was a singing-house girl,
now the wife of a wanderer,
a wanderer who never comes home --
It's hard sleeping in an empty bed alone.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No.3
Green Green, the Cypress on the Ridge zgwww.net
Green green the cypress* on the ridge,
stones heaped about in mountain streams:
between heaven and earth our lives rush past
like travelers with a long road to go.
Let this measure of wine be our merriment;
value it highly, without disdain.
I race the carriage, whip the lagging horses,
roam for pleasure to Wan and Lo**.
Here in Lo-yang, what surging crowds,
capped and belted ones chasing each other;
long avenues fringed with narrow alleys,
the many mansions of princes and peers.
The Two Palaces*** face each other from afar,
paired towers over a hundred feet tall.
Let the feast last forever, delight the heart --
then what grief or gloom can weigh us down?
* The cypress, along with the pine, figures often in Chinese literature as a symbol of longevity or changelessness. The stones in the second line presumably represent a similar concept, that of durability. Both the cypress and stones serve as contrast to man and his fleeting life. 国_学_参_考
** The Eastern Han had its capital at Lo-yang. The city of Wan, southeast of Lo-yang, was renowned for its splendor and, because it was the home of the founder of the Eastern Han, Emperor Kuang-wu, was honored with the title of Southern Capital.
*** The Two Palaces are those of the emperor and of the heir apparent situated in the northern and southern sectors of the city respectively. The city was laid out in a grid of broad avenues from which branched numerous smaller alleyways.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No.4
We Hold a Splendid Feast Today
We hold a splendid feast today,
a delight barely to be told in words.
Strike the lute, raise joyful echoes,
new notes of ghostly beauty.
Let the talented sing fine phrases;
he who knows music will understand.
One in mind, we share the same wish,
though the thought within remains unspoken:
Man lives out his little sojourn, zgwww.cn
scudding by like a swirl of dust.
Why not whip up your high-stepping horses,
be first to command the road to power?
What profit to stay poor and unhonored,
floundering forever in bitterness!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No.5
Northwest the Tall Tower Stands
Northwest the tall tower stands,
its top level with floating clouds,
patterned windows webbed in lattice,
roofs piled three stories high.
From above, the sound of strings and song;
what sadness in that melody!
Who could play a tune like this,
who but the wife of Ch'i Liang*?
The clear shang** mode drifts down the wind;
halfway through, it falters and breaks,
one plucking, two or three sighs,
longing, a grief that lingers on --
It is not the singer's pain I pity,
but few are those who understand the song!
If only we could be a pair of calling cranes, zgwww.com
beating wings, soaring to the sky!
* Ch'i Liang, a man of the state of Ch'i, was killed in battle in 550 B.C. According to legend, his grief-stricken wife committed suicide by throwing herself into the Tzu River. She seems to have been the subject of several early songs or stories, and is often depicted as playing a lute just before her death. In one version of the legend, her pitiful cries cause the city wall to collapse.
** Shang is one of the five modes or keys of traditional Chinese music, that associated with autumn, hence the epithet "clear." The association with autumn also suggests sadness and decay.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No.7
Clear Moon Brightly Shining in the Night
Clear moon brightly shining in the night,
crickets chirring by eastern walls;*
the jade bar points to early winter;**
crowding stars, how thick their ranks!
White dew soaks the wild grasses, 国_学_参_考
cycle of the seasons swiftly changing;
autumn locusts cry among the trees;
dark swallows, where did they go?
Once we were students together;
you soared on high, beating strong wings,
no longer recalling the hand of friendship;
you've left me behind like a forgotten footprint.
Southern Winnow, Dipper in the north,
Draught Ox that will not bear a yoke -- ***
truly, with no rock to underpin them,
what good are empty names?
* The cricket is mentioned in the Odes (Book of Songs) as a harbinger of the cold. Here it is called ts'u-chih or "hurry with the weaving!" because its song reminds the women of the house that they must get on with their weaving before winter comes.
** The "jade bar" seems to refer to the handle of the Big Dipper, whose position now indicates the approach of winter.
共2页: 上一页 1 [2] 下一页
|
| |
|
[ 收藏]
[ 推荐]
[ 评论(0条)]
[返回顶部] [打印本页]
[关闭窗口] |
|
|
| |
|
