Saturday 28 January 2012

Two Chinese Poems

Bamboo Midst Cottage

Sitting alone in silent bamboo dark,
I play a ch'in, settle into breath chants.

In these forest depths no one knows
this moon come bathing me in light.

By Wang Wei, translated by David Hinton.

Bamboo Mountain's Eastern Pond

In a small pond east of Bamboo Mountain Terrace, fresh
water lilies and duckweed, a confusion of early green.

I'm a wanderer here, and taking a lamp out past midnight,
I find a pair of egrets startled away, snow-white in flight.

By Po Chu-I, translated by David Hinton.

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