046

七言古詩

陳子昂

登幽州台歌

前不見古人， 后不見來者；
念天地之悠悠， 獨愴然而涕下。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Chen Ziang

ON A GATE-TOWER AT YUZHOU

Where, before me, are the ages that have gone?
And where, behind me, are the coming generations?
I think of heaven and earth, without limit, without end,
And I am all alone and my tears fall down.

047

七言古詩

李頎

古意

男儿事長征， 少小幽燕客，
賭胜馬蹄下， 由來輕七尺；
殺人莫敢前， 須如蝟毛磔。
黃云隴底白雪飛， 未得報恩不能歸。
遼東小婦年十五， 慣彈琵琶解歌舞，
今為羌笛出塞聲， 使我三軍淚如雨。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Qi

AN OLD AIR

There once was a man, sent on military missions,
A wanderer, from youth, on the You and Yan frontiers.
Under the horses' hoofs he would meet his foes
And, recklessly risking his seven-foot body,
Would slay whoever dared confront
Those moustaches that bristled like porcupinequills.
...There were dark clouds below the hills, there were white clouds above them,
But before a man has served full time, how can he go back?
In eastern Liao a girl was waiting, a girl of fifteen years,
Deft with a guitar, expert in dance and song.
...She seems to be fluting, even now, a reed-song of home,
Filling every soldier's eyes with homesick tears.

048

七言古詩

李頎

送陳章甫

四月南風大麥黃， 棗花未落桐葉長。
青山朝別暮還見， 嘶馬出門思故鄉。
陳侯立身何坦蕩？ 虯須虎眉仍大顙。
腹中貯書一万卷， 不肯低頭在草莽。
東門酤酒飲我曹， 心輕万事皆鴻毛，
醉臥不知白日暮， 有時空望孤云高。
長河浪頭連天黑， 津口停舟渡不得；
鄭國游人未及家， 洛陽行子空歎息。
聞道故林相識多， 罷官昨日今如何。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Qi

A FAREWELL TO MY FRIEND CHEN ZHANGFU

In the Fourth-month the south wind blows plains of yellow barley,
Date-flowers have not faded yet and lakka-leaves are long.
The green peak that we left at dawn we still can see at evening,
While our horses whinny on the road, eager to turn homeward.
...Chen, my friend, you have always been a great and good man,
With your dragon's moustache, tiger's eyebrows and your massive forehead.
In your bosom you have shelved away ten thousand volumes.
You have held your head high, never bowed it in the dust.
...After buying us wine and pledging us, here at the eastern gate,
And taking things as lightly as a wildgoose feather,
Flat you lie, tipsy, forgetting the white sun;
But now and then you open your eyes and gaze at a high lone cloud.
...The tide-head of the lone river joins the darkening sky.
The ferryman beaches his boat. It has grown too late to sail.
And people on their way from Cheng cannot go home,
And people from Loyang sigh with disappointment.
...I have heard about the many friends around your wood land dwelling.
Yesterday you were dismissed. Are they your friends today?

049

七言古詩

李頎

琴歌

主人有酒歡今夕， 請奏鳴琴廣陵客。
月照城頭烏半飛， 霜凄万樹風入衣；
銅爐華燭燭增輝， 初彈淥水后楚妃。
一聲已動物皆靜， 四座無言星欲稀。
清淮奉使千余里， 敢告云山從此始。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Qi

A LUTE SONG

Our host, providing abundant wine to make the night mellow,
Asks his guest from Yangzhou to play for us on the lute.
Toward the moon that whitens the city-wall, black crows are flying,
Frost is on ten thousand trees, and the wind blows through our clothes;
But a copper stove has added its light to that of flowery candles,
And the lute plays The Green Water, and then The Queen of Chu.
Once it has begun to play, there is no other sound:
A spell is on the banquet, while the stars grow thin....
But three hundred miles from here, in Huai, official duties await him,
And so it's farewell, and the road again, under cloudy mountains.

050

七言古詩

李頎

听董大彈胡笳聲兼寄語弄房給事

蔡女昔造胡笳聲， 一彈一十有八拍。
胡人落淚沾邊草， 漢使斷腸對歸客。
古戍蒼蒼烽火寒， 大荒沈沈飛雪白。
先拂聲弦后角羽， 四郊秋葉惊摵摵。
董夫子，通神明， 深山竊听來妖精。
言遲更速皆應手， 將往复旋如有情。
空山百鳥散還合， 万里浮云陰且晴。
嘶酸雛雁失群夜， 斷絕胡儿戀母聲。
川為靜其波， 鳥亦罷其鳴；
烏孫部落家鄉遠， 邏娑沙塵哀怨生。
幽音變調忽飄洒， 長風吹林雨墮瓦；
迸泉颯颯飛木末， 野鹿呦呦走堂下。
長安城連東掖垣， 鳳凰池對青瑣門，
高才脫略名与利， 日夕望君抱琴至。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Qi

ON HEARING DONG PLAY THE FLAGEOLET
A POEM TO PALACE-ATTENDANT FANG

When this melody for the flageolet was made by Lady Cai,
When long ago one by one she sang its eighteen stanzas,
Even the Tartars were shedding tears into the border grasses,
And the envoy of China was heart-broken, turning back home with his escort.
...Cold fires now of old battles are grey on ancient forts,
And the wilderness is shadowed with white new-flying snow.
...When the player first brushes the Shang string and the Jue and then the Yu,
Autumn-leaves in all four quarters are shaken with a murmur.
Dong, the master,
Must have been taught in heaven.
Demons come from the deep pine-wood and stealthily listen
To music slow, then quick, following his hand,
Now far away, now near again, according to his heart.
A hundred birds from an empty mountain scatter and return;
Three thousand miles of floating clouds darken and lighten;
A wildgoose fledgling, left behind, cries for its flock,
And a Tartar child for the mother he loves.
Then river waves are calmed
And birds are mute that were singing,
And Wuzu tribes are homesick for their distant land,
And out of the dust of Siberian steppes rises a plaintive sorrow.
...Suddenly the low sound leaps to a freer tune,
Like a long wind swaying a forest, a downpour breaking tiles,
A cascade through the air, flying over tree-tops.
...A wild deer calls to his fellows. He is running among the mansions
In the corner of the capital by the Eastern Palace wall....
Phoenix Lake lies opposite the Gate of Green Jade;
But how can fame and profit concern a man of genius?
Day and night I long for him to bring his lute again.

051

七言古詩

李頎

听安万善吹觱篥歌

南山截竹為觱篥， 此樂本自龜茲出。
流傳漢地曲轉奇， 涼州胡人為我吹；
傍鄰聞者多歎息， 遠客思鄉皆淚垂。
世人解听不解賞， 長飆風中自來往。
枯桑老柏寒颼飀， 九雛鳴鳳亂啾啾。
龍吟虎嘯一時發， 万籟百泉相与秋。
忽然更作漁陽摻， 黃云蕭條白日暗。
變調如聞楊柳春， 上林繁花照眼新。
歲夜高堂列明燭， 美酒一杯聲一曲。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Qi

ON HEARING AN WANSHAN PLAY THE REED-PIPE

Bamboo from the southern hills was used to make this pipe.
And its music, that was introduced from Persia first of all,
Has taken on new magic through later use in China.
And now the Tartar from Liangzhou, blowing it for me,
Drawing a sigh from whosoever hears it,
Is bringing to a wanderer's eyes homesick tears....
Many like to listen; but few understand.
To and fro at will there's a long wind flying,
Dry mulberry-trees, old cypresses, trembling in its chill.
There are nine baby phoenixes, outcrying one another;
A dragon and a tiger spring up at the same moment;
Then in a hundred waterfalls ten thousand songs of autumn
Are suddenly changing to The Yuyang Lament;
And when yellow clouds grow thin and the white sun darkens,
They are changing still again to Spring in the Willow Trees.
Like Imperial Garden flowers, brightening the eye with beauty,
Are the high-hall candles we have lighted this cold night,
And with every cup of wine goes another round of music.

052

七言古詩

孟浩然

夜歸鹿門山歌

山寺鐘鳴晝已昏， 漁梁渡頭爭渡喧；
人隨沙路向江村， 余亦乘舟歸鹿門。
鹿門月照開煙樹， 忽到龐公栖隱處；
岩扉松徑長寂寥， 惟有幽人自來去。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Meng Haoran

RETURNING AT NIGHT TO LUMEN MOUNTAIN

A bell in the mountain-temple sounds the coming of night.
I hear people at the fishing-town stumble aboard the ferry,
While others follow the sand-bank to their homes along the river.
...I also take a boat and am bound for Lumen Mountain --
And soon the Lumen moonlight is piercing misty trees.
I have come, before I know it, upon an ancient hermitage,
The thatch door, the piney path, the solitude, the quiet,
Where a hermit lives and moves, never needing a companion.

053

七言古詩

李白

廬山謠寄盧侍御虛舟

我本楚狂人， 鳳歌笑孔丘。
手持綠玉杖， 朝別黃鶴樓；
五岳尋仙不辭遠， 一生好入名山游。
廬山秀出南斗傍， 屏風九疊云錦張；
影落明湖青黛光， 金闕前開二峰長。
銀河倒挂三石梁， 香爐瀑布遙相望。
回崖沓障淩蒼蒼， 翠影紅霞映朝日，
鳥飛不到吳天長。
登高壯觀天地間， 大江茫茫去不黃。
黃云万里動風色， 白波九道流雪山。
好為廬山謠， 興因廬山發。
閒窺石鏡清我心， 謝公行處蒼苔沒。
早服還丹無世情， 琴心三疊道初成；
遙見仙人彩云里， 手把芙蓉朝玉京。
先期汗漫九垓上， 愿接盧敖游太清。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Bai

A SONG OF LU MOUNTAIN TO CENSOR LU XUZHOU

I am the madman of the Chu country
Who sang a mad song disputing Confucius.
...Holding in my hand a staff of green jade,
I have crossed, since morning at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
All five Holy Mountains, without a thought of distance,
According to the one constant habit of my life.
Lu Mountain stands beside the Southern Dipper
In clouds reaching silken like a nine-panelled screen,
With its shadows in a crystal lake deepening the green water.
The Golden Gate opens into two mountain-ranges.
A silver stream is hanging down to three stone bridges
Within sight of the mighty Tripod Falls.
Ledges of cliff and winding trails lead to blue sky
And a flush of cloud in the morning sun,
Whence no flight of birds could be blown into Wu.
...I climb to the top. I survey the whole world.
I see the long river that runs beyond return,
Yellow clouds that winds have driven hundreds of miles
And a snow-peak whitely circled by the swirl of a ninefold stream.
And so I am singing a song of Lu Mountain,
A song that is born of the breath of Lu Mountain.
...Where the Stone Mirror makes the heart's purity purer
And green moss has buried the footsteps of Xie,
I have eaten the immortal pellet and, rid of the world's troubles,
Before the lute's third playing have achieved my element.
Far away I watch the angels riding coloured clouds
Toward heaven's Jade City, with hibiscus in their hands.
And so, when I have traversed the nine sections of the world,
I will follow Saint Luao up the Great Purity.

054

七言古詩

李白

夢游天姥吟留別

海客談瀛洲， 煙濤微茫信難求。
越人語天姥， 云霓明滅或可睹。
天姥連天向天橫， 勢拔五岳掩赤城；
天台四万八千丈， 對此欲倒東南傾。
我欲因之夢吳越， 一夜飛渡鏡湖月。
湖月照我影， 送我至剡溪；
謝公宿處今尚在， 淥水蕩漾清猿啼。
腳著謝公屐， 身登青云梯。
半壁見海日， 空中聞天雞。
千岩万壑路不定， 迷花倚石忽已暝。
熊咆龍吟殷岩泉， 栗深林兮惊層巔。
云青青兮欲雨， 水澹澹兮生煙。
列缺霹靂， 邱巒崩摧，
洞天石扇， 訇然中開；
青冥浩蕩不見底， 日月照耀金銀台。
霓為衣兮風為馬， 云之君兮紛紛而來下；
虎鼓瑟兮鸞回車。 仙之人兮列如麻。
忽魂悸以魄動， 怳惊起而長嗟。
惟覺時之枕席， 失向來之煙霞。
世間行樂亦如此， 古來万事東流水。
別君去兮何時還？ 且放白鹿青崖間。
須行即騎訪名山， 安能摧眉折腰事權貴，
使我不得開心顏？

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Bai

TIANMU MOUNTAIN ASCENDED IN A DREAM

A seafaring visitor will talk about Japan,
Which waters and mists conceal beyond approach;
But Yueh people talk about Heavenly Mother Mountain,
Still seen through its varying deeps of cloud.
In a straight line to heaven, its summit enters heaven,
Tops the five Holy Peaks, and casts a shadow through China
With the hundred-mile length of the Heavenly Terrace Range,
Which, just at this point, begins turning southeast.
...My heart and my dreams are in Wu and Yueh
And they cross Mirror Lake all night in the moon.
And the moon lights my shadow
And me to Yan River --
With the hermitage of Xie still there
And the monkeys calling clearly over ripples of green water.
I wear his pegged boots
Up a ladder of blue cloud,
Sunny ocean half-way,
Holy cock-crow in space,
Myriad peaks and more valleys and nowhere a road.
Flowers lure me, rocks ease me. Day suddenly ends.
Bears, dragons, tempestuous on mountain and river,
Startle the forest and make the heights tremble.
Clouds darken with darkness of rain,
Streams pale with pallor of mist.
The Gods of Thunder and Lightning
Shatter the whole range.
The stone gate breaks asunder
Venting in the pit of heaven,
An impenetrable shadow.
...But now the sun and moon illumine a gold and silver terrace,
And, clad in rainbow garments, riding on the wind,
Come the queens of all the clouds, descending one by one,
With tigers for their lute-players and phoenixes for dancers.
Row upon row, like fields of hemp, range the fairy figures.
I move, my soul goes flying,
I wake with a long sigh,
My pillow and my matting
Are the lost clouds I was in.
...And this is the way it always is with human joy:
Ten thousand things run for ever like water toward the east.
And so I take my leave of you, not knowing for how long.
...But let me, on my green slope, raise a white deer
And ride to you, great mountain, when I have need of you.
Oh, how can I gravely bow and scrape to men of high rank and men of high office
Who never will suffer being shown an honest-hearted face!

055

七言古詩

李白

金陵酒肆留別

風吹柳花滿店香， 吳姬壓酒喚客嘗；
金陵子弟來相送， 欲行不行各盡觴。
請君試問東流水， 別意与之誰短長？

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Bai

PARTING AT A WINE-SHOP IN NANJING

A wind, bringing willow-cotton, sweetens the shop,
And a girl from Wu, pouring wine, urges me to share it
With my comrades of the city who are here to see me off;
And as each of them drains his cup, I say to him in parting,
Oh, go and ask this river running to the east
If it can travel farther than a friend's love!

056

七言古詩

李白

宣州謝朓樓餞別校書叔云

棄我去者， 昨日之日不可留；
亂我心者， 今日之日多煩憂。
長風万里送秋雁， 對此可以酣高樓。
蓬萊文章建安骨， 中間小謝又清發，
俱怀逸興壯思飛， 欲上青天覽明月。
抽刀斷水水更流， 舉杯銷愁愁更愁。
人生在世不稱意， 明朝散發弄扁舟。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Bai

A FAREWELL TO SECRETARY SHUYUN
AT THE XIETIAO VILLA IN XUANZHOU

Since yesterday had to throw me and bolt,
Today has hurt my heart even more.
The autumn wildgeese have a long wind for escort
As I face them from this villa, drinking my wine.
The bones of great writers are your brushes, in the School of Heaven,
And I am a Lesser Xie growing up by your side.
We both are exalted to distant thought,
Aspiring to the sky and the bright moon.
But since water still flows, though we cut it with our swords,
And sorrows return, though we drown them with wine,
Since the world can in no way answer our craving,
I will loosen my hair tomorrow and take to a fishingboat.

057

七言古詩

岑參

走馬川行奉送封大夫出師西征

君不見走馬川行雪海邊， 平沙莽莽黃入天。
輪台九月風夜吼， 一川碎石大如斗，
隨風滿地石亂走。 匈奴草黃馬正肥，
金山西見煙塵飛， 漢家大將西出師。
將軍金甲夜不脫， 半夜軍行戈相撥，
風頭如刀面如割。 馬毛帶雪汗气蒸，
五花連錢旋作冰， 幕中草檄硯水凝。
虜騎聞之應膽懾， 料知短兵不敢接，
車師西門佇獻捷。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Cen Can

A SONG OF RUNNING-HORSE RIVER IN FAREWELL
TO GENERAL FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION

Look how swift to the snowy sea races Running-Horse River! --
And sand, up from the desert, flies yellow into heaven.
This Ninth-month night is blowing cold at Wheel Tower,
And valleys, like peck measures, fill with the broken boulders
That downward, headlong, follow the wind.
...In spite of grey grasses, Tartar horses are plump;
West of the Hill of Gold, smoke and dust gather.
O General of the Chinese troops, start your campaign!
Keep your iron armour on all night long,
Send your soldiers forward with a clattering of weapons!
...While the sharp wind's point cuts the face like a knife,
And snowy sweat steams on the horses' backs,
Freezing a pattern of five-flower coins,
Your challenge from camp, from an inkstand of ice,
Has chilled the barbarian chieftain's heart.
You will have no more need of an actual battle! --
We await the news of victory, here at the western pass!

058

七言古詩

岑參

輪台歌奉送封大夫出師西征

輪台城頭夜吹角， 輪台城北旄頭落。
羽書昨夜過渠黎， 單于已在金山西。
戍樓西望煙塵黑， 漢兵屯在輪台北。
上將擁旄西出征， 平明吹笛大軍行。
四邊伐鼓雪海涌， 三軍大呼陰山動。
虜塞兵气連云屯， 戰場白骨纏草根。
劍河風急雪片闊， 沙口石凍馬蹄脫。
亞相勤王甘苦辛， 誓將報主靜邊塵。
古來青史誰不見？ 今見功名胜古人。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Cen Can

A SONG OF WHEEL TOWER IN FAREWELL TO GENERAL
FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION

On Wheel Tower parapets night-bugles are blowing,
Though the flag at the northern end hangs limp.
Scouts, in the darkness, are passing Quli,
Where, west of the Hill of Gold, the Tartar chieftain has halted
We can see, from the look-out, the dust and black smoke
Where Chinese troops are camping, north of Wheel Tower.
...Our flags now beckon the General farther west-
With bugles in the dawn he rouses his Grand Army;
Drums like a tempest pound on four sides
And the Yin Mountains shake with the shouts of ten thousand;
Clouds and the war-wind whirl up in a point
Over fields where grass-roots will tighten around white bones;
In the Dagger River mist, through a biting wind,
Horseshoes, at the Sand Mouth line, break on icy boulders.
...Our General endures every pain, every hardship,
Commanded to settle the dust along the border.
We have read, in the Green Books, tales of old days-
But here we behold a living man, mightier than the dead.

059

七言古詩

岑參

白雪歌送武判官歸京

北風卷地白草折， 胡天八月即飛雪；
忽如一夜春風來， 千樹万樹梨花開。
散入珠帘濕羅幕， 狐裘不暖錦衾薄。
將軍角弓不得控， 都護鐵衣冷猶著。
瀚海闌干百丈冰， 愁云黲淡万里凝。
中軍置酒飲歸客， 胡琴琵琶与羌笛。
紛紛暮雪下轅門， 風掣紅旗凍不翻。
輪台東門送君去， 去時雪滿天山路；
山回路轉不見君， 雪上空留馬行處。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Cen Can

A SONG OF WHITE SNOW IN FAREWELL
TO FIELD-CLERK WU GOING HOME

The north wind rolls the white grasses and breaks them;
And the Eighth-month snow across the Tartar sky
Is like a spring gale, come up in the night,
Blowing open the petals of ten thousand peartrees.
It enters the pearl blinds, it wets the silk curtains;
A fur coat feels cold, a cotton mat flimsy;
Bows become rigid, can hardly be drawn
And the metal of armour congeals on the men;
The sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice,
And darkness masses its endless clouds;
But we drink to our guest bound home from camp,
And play him barbarian lutes, guitars, harps;
Till at dusk, when the drifts are crushing our tents
And our frozen red flags cannot flutter in the wind,
We watch him through Wheel-Tower Gate going eastward.
Into the snow-mounds of Heaven-Peak Road....
And then he disappears at the turn of the pass,
Leaving behind him only hoof-prints.

060

七言古詩

杜甫

韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖

國初以來畫鞍馬， 神妙獨數江都王。
將軍得名三十載， 人間又見真乘黃。
曾貌先帝照夜白， 龍池十日飛霹靂，
內府殷紅瑪瑙盤， 婕妤傳詔才人索。
盤賜將軍拜舞歸， 輕紈細綺相追飛；
貴戚權門得筆跡， 始覺屏障生光輝。
昔日太宗拳毛騧， 近時郭家獅子花。
今之新圖有二馬， 复令識者久歎嗟，
此皆騎戰一敵万， 縞素漠漠開風沙。
其余七匹亦殊絕， 迥若寒空雜煙雪；
霜蹄蹴踏長楸間， 馬官廝養森成列。
可怜九馬爭神駿， 顧視清高气深穩。
借問苦心愛者誰？ 后有韋諷前支盾。
憶昔巡幸新丰宮， 翠花拂天來向東；
騰驤磊落三万匹， 皆与此圖筋骨同。
自從獻寶朝河宗， 無复射蛟江水中。
君不見， 金粟堆前松柏里，
龍媒去盡鳥呼風。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Du Fu

A DRAWING OF A HORSE BY GENERAL CAO
AT SECRETARY WEI FENG'S HOUSE

Throughout this dynasty no one had painted horses
Like the master-spirit, Prince Jiangdu --
And then to General Cao through his thirty years of fame
The world's gaze turned, for royal steeds.
He painted the late Emperor's luminous white horse.
For ten days the thunder flew over Dragon Lake,
And a pink-agate plate was sent him from the palace-
The talk of the court-ladies, the marvel of all eyes.
The General danced, receiving it in his honoured home
After this rare gift, followed rapidly fine silks
From many of the nobles, requesting that his art
Lend a new lustre to their screens.
...First came the curly-maned horse of Emperor Taizong,
Then, for the Guos, a lion-spotted horse....
But now in this painting I see two horses,
A sobering sight for whosoever knew them.
They are war- horses. Either could face ten thousand.
They make the white silk stretch away into a vast desert.
And the seven others with them are almost as noble
Mist and snow are moving across a cold sky,
And hoofs are cleaving snow-drifts under great trees-
With here a group of officers and there a group of servants.
See how these nine horses all vie with one another-
The high clear glance, the deep firm breath.
...Who understands distinction? Who really cares for art?
You, Wei Feng, have followed Cao; Zhidun preceded him.
...I remember when the late Emperor came toward his Summer Palace,
The procession, in green-feathered rows, swept from the eastern sky --
Thirty thousand horses, prancing, galloping,
Fashioned, every one of them, like the horses in this picture....
But now the Imperial Ghost receives secret jade from the River God,
For the Emperor hunts crocodiles no longer by the streams.
Where you see his Great Gold Tomb, you may hear among the pines
A bird grieving in the wind that the Emperor's horses are gone.

061

七言古詩

杜甫

丹青引贈曹霸將軍

將軍魏武之子孫， 于今為庶為青門；
英雄割据雖已矣！ 文采風流今尚存。
學書初學衛夫人， 但恨無過王右軍。
丹青不知老將至， 富貴于我如浮云。
開元之中常引見， 承恩數上南熏殿，
凌煙功臣少顏色， 將軍下筆開生面。
良相頭上進賢冠， 猛將腰間大羽箭。
褒公鄂公毛發動， 英姿颯爽猶酣戰。
先帝天馬玉花驄， 畫工如山貌不同。
是日牽來赤墀下， 迥立閶闔生長風。
詔謂將軍拂絹素， 意匠慘淡經營中；
斯須九重真龍出， 一洗万古凡馬空。
玉花卻在御榻上， 榻上庭前屹相向；
至尊含笑催賜金， 圉人太仆皆惆悵，
弟子韓干早入室， 亦能畫馬窮殊相；
干惟畫肉不畫骨， 忍使驊騮气凋喪。
將軍畫善蓋有神， 偶逢佳士亦寫真；
即今漂泊干戈際， 屢貌尋常行路人。
涂窮反遭俗眼白， 世上未有如公貧；
但看古來盛名下， 終日坎壈纏其身。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Du Fu

A SONG OF A PAINTING TO GENERAL CAO

O General, descended from Wei's Emperor Wu,
You are nobler now than when a noble....
Conquerors and their velour perish,
But masters of beauty live forever.
...With your brush-work learned from Lady Wei
And second only to Wang Xizhi's,
Faithful to your art, you know no age,
Letting wealth and fame drift by like clouds.
...In the years of Kaiyuan you were much with the Emperor,
Accompanied him often to the Court of the South Wind.
When the spirit left great statesmen, on walls of the Hall of Fame
The point of your brush preserved their living faces.
You crowned all the premiers with coronets of office;
You fitted all commanders with arrows at their girdles;
You made the founders of this dynasty, with every hair alive,
Seem to be just back from the fierceness of a battle.
...The late Emperor had a horse, known as Jade Flower,
Whom artists had copied in various poses.
They led him one day to the red marble stairs
With his eyes toward the palace in the deepening air.
Then, General, commanded to proceed with your work,
You centred all your being on a piece of silk.
And later, when your dragon-horse, born of the sky,
Had banished earthly horses for ten thousand generations,
There was one Jade Flower standing on the dais
And another by the steps, and they marvelled at each other....
The Emperor rewarded you with smiles and with gifts,
While officers and men of the stud hung about and stared.
...Han Gan, your follower, has likewise grown proficient
At representing horses in all their attitudes;
But picturing the flesh, he fails to draw the bone-
So that even the finest are deprived of their spirit.
You, beyond the mere skill, used your art divinely-
And expressed, not only horses, but the life of a good man....
Yet here you are, wandering in a world of disorder
And sketching from time to time some petty passerby
People note your case with the whites of their eyes.
There's nobody purer, there's nobody poorer.
...Read in the records, from earliest times,
How hard it is to be a great artist.

062

七言古詩

杜甫

寄韓諫議

今我不樂思岳陽， 身欲奮飛病在床。
美人娟娟隔秋水， 濯足洞庭望八荒。
鴻飛冥冥日月白， 青楓葉赤天雨霜。
玉京群帝集北斗， 或騎麒麟翳鳳凰。
芙蓉旌旗煙霧落， 影動倒景搖瀟湘。
星宮之君醉瓊漿， 羽人稀少不在旁。
似聞昨者赤松子， 恐是漢代韓張良；
昔隨劉氏定長安， 帷幄未改神慘傷。
國家成敗吾豈敢？ 色難腥腐餐楓香。
周南留滯古所惜， 南极老人應壽昌。
美人胡為隔秋水？ 焉得置之貢玉堂。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Du Fu

A LETTER TO CENSOR HAN

I am sad. My thoughts are in Youzhou.
I would hurry there-but I am sick in bed.
...Beauty would be facing me across the autumn waters.
Oh, to wash my feet in Lake Dongting and see at its eight corners
Wildgeese flying high, sun and moon both white,
Green maples changing to red in the frosty sky,
Angels bound for the Capital of Heaven, near the North Star,
Riding, some of them phrenixes, and others unicorns,
With banners of hibiscus and with melodies of mist,
Their shadows dancing upside-down in the southern rivers,
Till the Queen of the Stars, drowsy with her nectar,
Would forget the winged men on either side of her!
...From the Wizard of the Red Pine this word has come for me:
That after his earlier follower he has now a new disciple
Who, formerly at the capital as Emperor Liu's adviser,
In spite of great successes, never could be happy.
...What are a country's rise and fall?
Can flesh-pots be as fragrant as mountain fruit?....
I grieve that he is lost far away in the south.
May the star of long life accord him its blessing!
...O purity, to seize you from beyond the autumn waters
And to place you as an offering in the Court of Imperial Jade.

063

七言古詩

杜甫

古柏行

孔明廟前有老柏， 柯如青銅根如石；
雙皮溜雨四十圍， 黛色參天二千尺。
君臣已与時際會， 樹木猶為人愛惜。
云來气接巫峽長， 月出寒通雪山白。
憶昨路繞錦亭東， 先主武侯同閟宮。
崔嵬枝干郊原古， 窈窕丹青戶牖空。
落落盤踞雖得地， 冥冥孤高多烈風。
扶持自是神明力， 正直元因造化功。
大廈如傾要梁棟， 万牛回首丘山重。
不露文章世已惊， 未辭剪伐誰能送？
苦心豈免容螻蟻？ 香葉終經宿鸞鳳。
志士幽人莫怨嗟， 古來材大難為用。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Du Fu

A SONG OF AN OLD CYPRESS

Beside the Temple of the Great Premier stands an ancient cypress
With a trunk of green bronze and a root of stone.
The girth of its white bark would be the reach of forty men
And its tip of kingfish-blue is two thousand feet in heaven.
Dating from the days of a great ruler's great statesman,
Their very tree is loved now and honoured by the people.
Clouds come to it from far away, from the Wu cliffs,
And the cold moon glistens on its peak of snow.
...East of the Silk Pavilion yesterday I found
The ancient ruler and wise statesman both worshipped in one temple,
Whose tree, with curious branches, ages the whole landscape
In spite of the fresh colours of the windows and the doors.
And so firm is the deep root, so established underground,
That its lone lofty boughs can dare the weight of winds,
Its only protection the Heavenly Power,
Its only endurance the art of its Creator.
Though oxen sway ten thousand heads, they cannot move a mountain.
...When beams are required to restore a great house,
Though a tree writes no memorial, yet people understand
That not unless they fell it can use be made of it....
Its bitter heart may be tenanted now by black and white ants,
But its odorous leaves were once the nest of phoenixes and pheasants.
...Let wise and hopeful men harbour no complaint.
The greater the timber, the tougher it is to use.

064

七言古詩

杜甫

觀公孫大娘弟子舞劍器行并序

昔有佳人公孫氏， 一舞劍器動四方。
觀者如山色沮喪， 天地為之久低昂。
霍如羿射九日落， 矯如群帝驂龍翔，
來如雷霆收震怒， 罷如江海凝清光。
絳唇珠袖兩寂寞， 晚有弟子傳芬芳。
臨穎美人在白帝， 妙舞此曲神揚揚。
与余問答既有以， 感時撫事增惋傷。
先帝侍女八千人， 公孫劍器初第一。
五十年間似反掌， 風塵澒洞昏王室。
梨園子弟散如煙， 女樂余姿映寒日。
金粟堆前木已拱， 瞿塘石城草蕭瑟。
玳筵急管曲复終， 樂极哀來月東出。
老夫不知其所往？ 足茧荒山轉愁疾。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Du Fu

A SONG OF DAGGER-DANCING TO A GIRL-PUPIL
OF LADY GONGSUN

There lived years ago the beautiful Gongsun,
Who, dancing with her dagger, drew from all four quarters
An audience like mountains lost among themselves.
Heaven and earth moved back and forth, following her motions,
Which were bright as when the Archer shot the nine suns down the sky
And rapid as angels before the wings of dragons.
She began like a thunderbolt, venting its anger,
And ended like the shining calm of rivers and the sea....
But vanished are those red lips and those pearly sleeves;
And none but this one pupil bears the perfume of her fame,
This beauty from Lingying, at the Town of the White God,
Dancing still and singing in the old blithe way.
And while we reply to each other's questions,
We sigh together, saddened by changes that have come.
There were eight thousand ladies in the late Emperor's court,
But none could dance the dagger-dance like Lady Gongsun.
...Fifty years have passed, like the turning of a palm;
Wind and dust, filling the world, obscure the Imperial House.
Instead of the Pear-Garden Players, who have blown by like a mist,
There are one or two girl-musicians now-trying to charm the cold Sun.
There are man-size trees by the Emperor's Golden Tomb
I seem to hear dead grasses rattling on the cliffs of Qutang.
...The song is done, the slow string and quick pipe have ceased.
At the height of joy, sorrow comes with the eastern moon rising.
And I, a poor old man, not knowing where to go,
Must harden my feet on the lone hills, toward sickness and despair.

065

七言古詩

元結

石魚湖上醉歌并序

石魚湖， 似洞庭，
夏水欲滿君山青。
山為樽， 水為沼，
酒徒歷歷坐洲鳥。
長風連日作大浪， 不能廢人運酒舫。
我持長瓢坐巴丘， 酌飲四座以散愁。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Yuan Jie

A DRINKING SONG AT STONE-FISH LAKE

Stone-Fish Lake is like Lake Dongting --
When the top of Zun is green and the summer tide is rising.
...With the mountain for a table, and the lake a fount of wine,
The tipplers all are settled along the sandy shore.
Though a stiff wind for days has roughened the water,
Wine-boats constantly arrive....
I have a long-necked gourd and, happy on Ba Island,
I am pouring a drink in every direction doing away with care.

066

七言古詩

韓愈

山石

山石犖确行徑微， 黃昏到寺蝙蝠飛。
升堂坐階新雨足， 芭蕉葉大梔子肥。
僧言古壁佛畫好， 以火來照所見稀。
舖床拂席置羹飯， 疏糲亦足飽我饑。
夜深靜臥百虫絕， 清月出岭光入扉。
天明獨去無道路， 出入高下窮煙霏。
山紅澗碧紛爛漫， 時見松櫪皆十圍。
當流赤足蹋澗石， 水聲激激風吹衣。
人生如此自可樂， 豈必局束為人鞿？
嗟哉吾党二三子， 安得至老不更歸？

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Han Yu

MOUNTAIN-STONES

Rough were the mountain-stones, and the path very narrow;
And when I reached the temple, bats were in the dusk.
I climbed to the hall, sat on the steps, and drank the rain- washed air
Among the round gardenia-pods and huge bananaleaves.
On the old wall, said the priest, were Buddhas finely painted,
And he brought a light and showed me, and I called them wonderful
He spread the bed, dusted the mats, and made my supper ready,
And, though the food was coarse, it satisfied my hunger.
At midnight, while I lay there not hearing even an insect,
The mountain moon with her pure light entered my door....
At dawn I left the mountain and, alone, lost my way:
In and out, up and down, while a heavy mist
Made brook and mountain green and purple, brightening everything.
I am passing sometimes pines and oaks, which ten men could not girdle,
I am treading pebbles barefoot in swift-running water --
Its ripples purify my ear, while a soft wind blows my garments....
These are the things which, in themselves, make life happy.
Why should we be hemmed about and hampered with people?
O chosen pupils, far behind me in my own country,
What if I spent my old age here and never went back home?

067

七言古詩

韓愈

八月十五夜贈張功曹

纖云四卷天無河， 清風吹空月舒波。
沙平水息聲影絕， 一杯相屬君當歌。
君歌聲酸辭且苦， 不能听終淚如雨。
洞庭連天九疑高， 蛟龍出沒猩鼯號。
十生九死到官所， 幽居默默如藏逃。
下床畏蛇食畏藥， 海气濕蟄熏腥臊。
昨者州前槌大鼓， 嗣皇繼圣登夔皋。
赦書一日行万里， 罪從大辟皆除死。
遷者追回流者還， 滌瑕蕩垢清朝班。
州家申名使家抑， 坎軻祇得移荊蠻。
判司卑官不堪說， 未免捶楚塵埃間。
同時輩流多上道， 天路幽險難追攀。
君歌且休听我歌， 我歌今与君殊科。
一年明月今宵多， 人生由命非由他；
有酒不飲奈明何？

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Han Yu

ON THE FESTIVAL OF THE MOON
TO SUB-OFFICIAL ZHANG

The fine clouds have opened and the River of Stars is gone,
A clear wind blows across the sky, and the moon widens its wave,
The sand is smooth, the water still, no sound and no shadow,
As I offer you a cup of wine, asking you to sing.
But so sad is this song of yours and so bitter your voice
That before I finish listening my tears have become a rain:
"Where Lake Dongting is joined to the sky by the lofty Nine-Doubt Mountain,
Dragons, crocodiles, rise and sink, apes, flying foxes, whimper....
At a ten to one risk of death, I have reached my official post,
Where lonely I live and hushed, as though I were in hiding.
I leave my bed, afraid of snakes; I eat, fearing poisons;
The air of the lake is putrid, breathing its evil odours....
Yesterday, by the district office, the great drum was announcing
The crowning of an emperor, a change in the realm.
The edict granting pardons runs three hundred miles a day,
All those who were to die have had their sentences commuted,
The unseated are promoted and exiles are recalled,
Corruptions are abolished, clean officers appointed.
My superior sent my name in but the governor would not listen
And has only transferred me to this barbaric place.
My rank is very low and useless to refer to;
They might punish me with lashes in the dust of the street.
Most of my fellow exiles are now returning home --
A journey which, to me, is a heaven beyond climbing."
...Stop your song, I beg you, and listen to mine,
A song that is utterly different from yours:
"Tonight is the loveliest moon of the year.
All else is with fate, not ours to control;
But, refusing this wine, may we choose more tomorrow?"

068

七言古詩

韓愈

謁衡岳廟遂宿岳寺題門樓

五岳祭秩皆三公， 四方環鎮嵩當中。
火維地荒足妖怪， 天假神柄專其雄。
噴云泄霧藏半腹， 雖有絕頂誰能窮？
我來正逢秋雨節， 陰气晦昧無清風。
潛心默禱若有應， 豈非正直能感通？
須臾靜掃眾峰出， 仰見突兀撐青空。
紫蓋連延接天柱， 石廩騰擲堆祝融。
森然魄動下馬拜， 松柏一逕趨靈宮。
紛牆丹柱動光彩， 鬼物圖畫填青紅。
升階傴僂荐脯酒， 欲以菲薄明其衷。
廟內老人識神意， 睢盱偵伺能鞠躬。
手持杯珓導我擲， 云此最吉余難同。
竄逐蠻荒幸不死， 衣食才足甘長終。
侯王將相望久絕， 神縱欲福難為功。
夜投佛寺上高閣， 星月掩映云曈曨。
猿鳴鐘動不知曙， 杲杲寒日生于東。

Seven-character-quatrain

Han Yu

STOPPING AT A TEMPLE ON HENG MOUNTAIN I
INSCRIBE THIS POEM IN THE GATE-TOWER

The five Holy Mountains have the rank of the Three Dukes.
The other four make a ring, with the Song Mountain midmost.
To this one, in the fire-ruled south, where evil signs are rife,
Heaven gave divine power, ordaining it a peer.
All the clouds and hazes are hidden in its girdle;
And its forehead is beholden only by a few.
...I came here in autumn, during the rainy season,
When the sky was overcast and the clear wind gone.
I quieted my mind and prayed, hoping for an answer;
For assuredly righteous thinking reaches to high heaven.
And soon all the mountain-peaks were showing me their faces;
I looked up at a pinnacle that held the clean blue sky:
The wide Purple-Canopy joined the Celestial Column;
The Stone Granary leapt, while the Fire God stood still.
Moved by this token, I dismounted to offer thanks.
A long path of pine and cypress led to the temple.
Its white walls and purple pillars shone, and the vivid colour
Of gods and devils filled the place with patterns of red and blue.
I climbed the steps and, bending down to sacrifice, besought
That my pure heart might be welcome, in spite of my humble offering.
The old priest professed to know the judgment of the God:
He was polite and reverent, making many bows.
He handed me divinity-cups, he showed me how to use them
And told me that my fortune was the very best of all.
Though exiled to a barbarous land, mine is a happy life.
Plain food and plain clothes are all I ever wanted.
To be prince, duke, premier, general, was never my desire;
And if the God would bless me, what better could he grant than this ? --
At night I lie down to sleep in the top of a high tower;
While moon and stars glimmer through the darkness of the clouds....
Apes call, a bell sounds. And ready for dawn
I see arise, far in the east the cold bright sun.

069

七言古詩

韓愈

石鼓歌

張生手持石鼓文， 勸我識作石鼓歌。
少陵無人謫仙死， 才薄將奈石鼓何？
周綱淩遲四海沸， 宣王憤起揮天戈；
大開明堂受朝賀， 諸侯劍佩鳴相磨。
搜于岐陽騁雄俊， 万里禽獸皆遮羅。
鐫功勒成告万世， 鑿石作鼓隳嵯峨。
從臣才藝咸第一， 揀選撰刻留山阿。
雨淋日炙野火燎， 鬼物守護煩撝呵。
公從何處得紙本？ 毫發盡備無差訛。
辭嚴義密讀難曉， 字体不類隸与蝌。
年深豈免有缺畫？ 快劍砍斷生蛟鼉。
鸞翔鳳翥眾仙下， 珊瑚碧樹交枝柯。
金繩鐵索鎖鈕壯， 古鼎躍水龍騰梭。
陋儒編詩不收入， 二雅褊迫無委蛇。
孔子西行不到秦， 掎摭星宿遺羲娥。
嗟予好古生苦晚， 對此涕淚雙滂沱。
憶昔初蒙博士徵， 其年始改稱元和。
故人從軍在右輔， 為我度量掘臼科。
濯冠沐浴告祭酒， 如此至寶存豈多？
氈包席裹可立致， 十鼓祇載數駱駝。
荐諸太廟比郜鼎， 光价豈止百倍過。
圣恩若許留太學， 諸生講解得切磋。
觀經鴻都尚填咽， 坐見舉國來奔波。
剜苔剔蘚露節角， 安置妥帖平不頗。
大廈深檐与蓋覆， 經歷久遠期無佗。
中朝大官老于事， 詎肯感激徒媕婀？
牧童敲火牛礪角， 誰复著手為摩挲？
日銷月鑠就埋沒， 六年西顧空吟哦。
羲之俗書趁姿媚， 數紙尚可博白鵝。
繼周八代爭戰罷， 無人收拾理則那。
方今太平日無事， 柄任儒術崇丘軻。
安能以此上論列？ 愿借辯口如懸河。
石鼓之歌止于此， 嗚呼吾意其蹉跎。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Han Yu

A POEM ON THE STONE DRUMS

Chang handed me this tracing, from the stone drums,
Beseeching me to write a poem on the stone drums.
Du Fu has gone. Li Bai is dead.
What can my poor talent do for the stone drums?
...When the Zhou power waned and China was bubbling,
Emperor Xuan, up in wrath, waved his holy spear:
And opened his Great Audience, receiving all the tributes
Of kings and lords who came to him with a tune of clanging weapons.
They held a hunt in Qiyang and proved their marksmanship:
Fallen birds and animals were strewn three thousand miles.
And the exploit was recorded, to inform new generations....
Cut out of jutting cliffs, these drums made of stone-
On which poets and artisans, all of the first order,
Had indited and chiselled-were set in the deep mountains
To be washed by rain, baked by sun, burned by wildfire,
Eyed by evil spirits; and protected by the gods.
...Where can he have found the tracing on this paper? --
True to the original, not altered by a hair,
The meaning deep, the phrases cryptic, difficult to read.
And the style of the characters neither square nor tadpole.
Time has not yet vanquished the beauty of these letters --
Looking like sharp daggers that pierce live crocodiles,
Like phoenix-mates dancing, like angels hovering down,
Like trees of jade and coral with interlocking branches,
Like golden cord and iron chain tied together tight,
Like incense-tripods flung in the sea, like dragons mounting heaven.
Historians, gathering ancient poems, forgot to gather these,
To make the two Books of Musical Song more colourful and striking;
Confucius journeyed in the west, but not to the Qin Kingdom,
He chose our planet and our stars but missed the sun and moon
I who am fond of antiquity, was born too late
And, thinking of these wonderful things, cannot hold back my tears....
I remember, when I was awarded my highest degree,
During the first year of Yuanho,
How a friend of mine, then at the western camp,
Offered to assist me in removing these old relics.
I bathed and changed, then made my plea to the college president
And urged on him the rareness of these most precious things.
They could be wrapped in rugs, be packed and sent in boxes
And carried on only a few camels: ten stone drums
To grace the Imperial Temple like the Incense-Pot of Gao --
Or their lustre and their value would increase a hundredfold,
If the monarch would present them to the university,
Where students could study them and doubtless decipher them,
And multitudes, attracted to the capital of culture
Prom all corners of the Empire, would be quick to gather.
We could scour the moss, pick out the dirt, restore the original surface,
And lodge them in a fitting and secure place for ever,
Covered by a massive building with wide eaves
Where nothing more might happen to them as it had before.
...But government officials grow fixed in their ways
And never will initiate beyond old precedent;
So herd- boys strike the drums for fire, cows polish horns on them,
With no one to handle them reverentially.
Still ageing and decaying, soon they may be effaced.
Six years I have sighed for them, chanting toward the west....
The familiar script of Wang Xizhi, beautiful though it was,
Could be had, several pages, just for a few white geese,
But now, eight dynasties after the Zhou, and all the wars over,
Why should there be nobody caring for these drums?
The Empire is at peace, the government free.
Poets again are honoured and Confucians and Mencians....
Oh, how may this petition be carried to the throne?
It needs indeed an eloquent flow, like a cataract-
But, alas, my voice has broken, in my song of the stone drums,
To a sound of supplication choked with its own tears.

070

七言古詩

柳宗元

漁翁

漁翁夜傍西岩宿， 曉汲清湘燃楚燭。
煙銷日出不見人， 欸乃一聲山水綠。
回看天際下中流， 岩上無心云相逐。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Liu Zongyuan

AN OLD FISHERMAN

An old fisherman spent the night here, under the western cliff;
He dipped up water from the pure Hsiang and made a bamboo fire;
And then, at sunrise, he went his way through the cloven mist,
With only the creak of his paddle left, in the greenness of mountain and river.
...I turn and see the waves moving as from heaven,
And clouds above the cliffs coming idly, one by one.

071

七言古詩

白居易

長恨歌

漢皇重色思傾國， 御宇多年求不得。
楊家有女初長成， 養在深閨人未識。
天生麗質難自棄， 一朝選在君王側；
回眸一笑百媚生， 六宮粉黛無顏色。
春寒賜浴華清池， 溫泉水滑洗凝脂；
侍儿扶起嬌無力， 始是新承恩澤時。
云鬢花顏金步搖， 芙蓉帳暖度春宵；
春宵苦短日高起， 從此君王不早朝。
承歡侍宴無閒暇， 春從春游夜專夜。
后宮佳麗三千人， 三千寵愛在一身。
金星妝成嬌侍夜， 玉樓宴罷醉和春。
姊妹弟兄皆列士， 可怜光彩生門戶；
遂令天下父母心， 不重生男重生女。
驪宮高處入青云， 仙樂風飄處處聞；
緩歌慢舞凝絲竹， 盡日君王看不足。
漁陽鼙鼓動地來， 惊破霓裳羽衣曲。
九重城闕煙塵生， 千乘万騎西南行。
翠華搖搖行复止， 西出都門百余里。
六軍不發無奈何？ 宛轉蛾眉馬前死。
花鈿委地無人收， 翠翹金雀玉搔頭。
君王掩面救不得， 回看血淚相和流。
黃埃散漫風蕭索， 云棧縈紆登劍閣。
峨嵋山下少人行， 旌旗無光日色薄。
蜀江水碧蜀山青， 圣主朝朝暮暮情。
行宮見月傷心色， 夜雨聞鈴腸斷聲。
天旋地轉回龍馭， 到此躊躇不能去。
馬嵬坡下泥土中， 不見玉顏空死處。
君臣相顧盡沾衣， 東望都門信馬歸。
歸來池苑皆依舊， 太液芙蓉未央柳；
芙蓉如面柳如眉， 對此如何不淚垂？
春風桃李花開日， 秋雨梧桐葉落時。
西宮南內多秋草， 落葉滿階紅不掃。
梨園子弟白發新， 椒房阿監青娥老。
夕殿螢飛思悄然， 孤燈挑盡未成眠。
遲遲鐘鼓初長夜， 耿耿星河欲曙天。
鴛鴦瓦冷霜華重， 翡翠衾寒誰与共？
悠悠生死別經年， 魂魄不曾來入夢。
臨邛道士鴻都客， 能以精誠致魂魄；
為感君王輾轉思， 遂教方士殷勤覓。
排空馭气奔如電， 升天入地求之遍；
上窮碧落下黃泉， 兩處茫茫皆不見。
忽聞海上有仙山， 山在虛無縹緲間；
樓閣玲瓏五云起， 其中綽約多仙子。
中有一人字太真， 雪膚花貌參差是。
金闕西廂叩玉扃， 轉教小玉報雙成。
聞道漢家天子使， 九華帳里夢魂惊。
攬衣推枕起徘徊， 珠箔銀屏迤邐開，
云鬢半偏新睡覺， 花冠不整下堂來。
風吹仙袂飄飄舉， 猶似霓裳羽衣舞；
玉容寂寞淚闌干， 梨花一枝春帶雨。
含情凝睇謝君王， 一別音容兩渺茫。
昭陽殿里恩愛絕， 蓬萊宮中日月長。
回頭下望人寰處， 不見長安見塵霧。
唯將舊物表深情， 鈿合金釵寄將去。
釵留一股合一扇， 釵擘黃金合分鈿；
但教心似金鈿堅， 天上人間會相見。
臨別殷勤重寄詞， 詞中有誓兩心知。
七月七日長生殿， 夜半無人私語時。
在天愿作比翼鳥， 在地愿為連理枝。
天長地久有時盡， 此恨綿綿無絕期。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Bai Juyi

A SONG OF UNENDING SORROW

China's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire,
Was on the throne for many years, searching, never finding,
Till a little child of the Yang clan, hardly even grown,
Bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her,
But with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed,
At last one day was chosen for the imperial household.
If she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells,
And the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing.
...It was early spring. They bathed her in the FlowerPure Pool,
Which warmed and smoothed the creamy-tinted crystal of her skin,
And, because of her languor, a maid was lifting her
When first the Emperor noticed her and chose her for his bride.
The cloud of her hair, petal of her cheek, gold ripples of her crown when she moved,
Were sheltered on spring evenings by warm hibiscus curtains;
But nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon,
And the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings
And lavished all his time on her with feasts and revelry,
His mistress of the spring, his despot of the night.
There were other ladies in his court, three thousand of rare beauty,
But his favours to three thousand were concentered in one body.
By the time she was dressed in her Golden Chamber, it would be almost evening;
And when tables were cleared in the Tower of Jade, she would loiter, slow with wine.
Her sisters and her brothers all were given titles;
And, because she so illumined and glorified her clan,
She brought to every father, every mother through the empire,
Happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy.
...High rose Li Palace, entering blue clouds,
And far and wide the breezes carried magical notes
Of soft song and slow dance, of string and bamboo music.
The Emperor's eyes could never gaze on her enough-
Till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth
And broke the tunes of The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
The Forbidden City, the nine-tiered palace, loomed in the dust
From thousands of horses and chariots headed southwest.
The imperial flag opened the way, now moving and now pausing- -
But thirty miles from the capital, beyond the western gate,
The men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir
Till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth- eyebrows....
Flowery hairpins fell to the ground, no one picked them up,
And a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair- bird.
The Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face.
And later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears
Was hidden in a yellow dust blown by a cold wind.
... At the cleft of the Dagger-Tower Trail they crisscrossed through a cloud-line
Under Omei Mountain. The last few came.
Flags and banners lost their colour in the fading sunlight....
But as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue,
So changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days.
He stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace.
He heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast.
And when heaven and earth resumed their round and the dragon car faced home,
The Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away
From the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried
That memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face?
Ruler and lords, when eyes would meet, wept upon their coats
As they rode, with loose rein, slowly eastward, back to the capital.
...The pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before,
The Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows;
But a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow --
And what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them?
...Peach-trees and plum-trees blossomed, in the winds of spring;
Lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains;
The Western and Southern Palaces were littered with late grasses,
And the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away.
Her Pear-Garden Players became white-haired
And the eunuchs thin-eyebrowed in her Court of PepperTrees;
Over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight.
He would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep.
Bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours
And the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn,
And the porcelain mandarin-ducks on the roof grow thick with morning frost
And his covers of kingfisher-blue feel lonelier and colder
With the distance between life and death year after year;
And yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams.
...At Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven,
Able to summon spirits by his concentrated mind.
And people were so moved by the Emperor's constant brooding
That they besought the Taoist priest to see if he could find her.
He opened his way in space and clove the ether like lightning,
Up to heaven, under the earth, looking everywhere.
Above, he searched the Green Void, below, the Yellow Spring;
But he failed, in either place, to find the one he looked for.
And then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea,
A part of the intangible and incorporeal world,
With pavilions and fine towers in the five-coloured air,
And of exquisite immortals moving to and fro,
And of one among them-whom they called The Ever True-
With a face of snow and flowers resembling hers he sought.
So he went to the West Hall's gate of gold and knocked at the jasper door
And asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect.
And the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China,
Was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy.
She pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep,
And opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen.
Her cloudy hair-dress hung on one side because of her great haste,
And her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace,
While a light wind filled her cloak and fluttered with her motion
As though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
And the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face
Were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear.
But love glowed deep within her eyes when she bade him thank her liege,
Whose form and voice had been strange to her ever since their parting --
Since happiness had ended at the Court of the Bright Sun,
And moons and dawns had become long in Fairy-Mountain Palace.
But when she turned her face and looked down toward the earth
And tried to see the capital, there were only fog and dust.
So she took out, with emotion, the pledges he had given
And, through his envoy, sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin,
But kept one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box,
Breaking the gold of the hairpin, breaking the shell of the box;
"Our souls belong together," she said, " like this gold and this shell --
Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely
And she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him
Of vows which had been known only to their two hearts:
"On the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life,
We told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world
That we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one,
And to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree."
Earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end,
While this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.

072

七言古詩

白居易

琵琶行并序

潯言江頭夜送客， 楓葉荻花秋瑟瑟。
主人下馬客在船， 舉酒欲飲無管弦。
醉不成歡慘將別， 別時茫茫江浸月。
忽聞水上琵琶聲， 主人忘歸客不發。
尋聲暗問彈者誰？ 琵琶聲停欲語遲。
移船相近邀相見， 添酒回燈重開宴。
千呼万喚始出來， 猶抱琵琶半遮面。
轉軸撥弦三兩聲， 未成曲調先有情。
弦弦掩抑聲聲思， 似訴平生不得志。
低眉信手續續彈， 說盡心中無限事。
輕攏慢撚抹复挑， 初為霓裳后六么。
大弦嘈嘈如急雨， 小弦切切如私語。
嘈嘈切切錯雜彈， 大珠小珠落玉盤。
間官鶯語花底滑， 幽咽泉流水下灘。
水泉冷澀弦凝絕， 凝絕不通聲漸歇。
別有幽愁暗恨生， 此時無聲胜有聲。
銀瓶乍破水漿迸， 鐵騎突出刀鎗鳴。
曲終收撥當心畫， 四弦一聲如裂帛。
東船西舫悄無言， 唯見江心秋月白。
沈吟放撥插弦中， 整頓衣裳起斂容。
自言本是京城女， 家在蝦蟆陵下住。
十三學得琵琶成， 名屬教坊第一部。
曲罷曾教善才服， 妝成每被秋娘妒，
五陵年少爭纏頭， 一曲紅綃不知數。
鈿頭銀篦擊節碎， 血色羅裙翻酒污。
今年歡笑复明年， 秋月春風等閒度。
弟走從軍阿姨死， 暮去朝來顏色故。
門前冷落車馬稀， 老大嫁作商人婦。
商人重利輕別离， 前月浮梁買茶去。
去來江口守空船， 繞船月明江水寒。
夜深忽夢少年事， 夢啼妝淚紅闌干，
我聞琵琶已歎息， 又聞此語重唧唧。
同是天涯淪落人， 相逢何必曾相識。
我從去年辭帝京， 謫居臥病潯陽城。
潯陽地僻無音樂， 終歲不聞絲竹聲。
住近湓江地低濕， 黃蘆苦竹繞宅生。
其間旦暮聞何物， 杜鵑啼血猿哀鳴。
春江花朝秋月夜， 往往取酒還獨傾。
豈無山歌与村笛？ 嘔啞嘲哳難為听。
今夜聞君琵琶語， 如听仙樂耳暫明。
莫辭更坐彈一曲， 為君翻作琵琶行。
感我此言良久立， 卻坐促弦弦轉急。
凄凄不似向前聲， 滿座重聞皆掩泣。
座中泣下誰最多， 江州司馬青衫濕。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Bai Chuyi

THE SONG OF A GUITAR

I was bidding a guest farewell, at night on the Xunyang River,
Where maple-leaves and full-grown rushes rustled in the autumn.
I, the host, had dismounted, my guest had boarded his boat,
And we raised our cups and wished to drink-but, alas, there was no music.
For all we had drunk we felt no joy and were parting from each other,
When the river widened mysteriously toward the full moon --
We had heard a sudden sound, a guitar across the water.
Host forgot to turn back home, and guest to go his way.
We followed where the melody led and asked the player's name.
The sound broke off...then reluctantly she answered.
We moved our boat near hers, invited her to join us,
Summoned more wine and lanterns to recommence our banquet.
Yet we called and urged a thousand times before she started toward us,
Still hiding half her face from us behind her guitar.
...She turned the tuning-pegs and tested several strings;
We could feel what she was feeling, even before she played:
Each string a meditation, each note a deep thought,
As if she were telling us the ache of her whole life.
She knit her brows, flexed her fingers, then began her music,
Little by little letting her heart share everything with ours.
She brushed the strings, twisted them slow, swept them, plucked them --
First the air of The Rainbow Skirt, then The Six Little Ones.
The large strings hummed like rain,
The small strings whispered like a secret,
Hummed, whispered-and then were intermingled
Like a pouring of large and small pearls into a plate of jade.
We heard an oriole, liquid, hidden among flowers.
We heard a brook bitterly sob along a bank of sand...
By the checking of its cold touch, the very string seemed broken
As though it could not pass; and the notes, dying away
Into a depth of sorrow and concealment of lament,
Told even more in silence than they had told in sound....
A silver vase abruptly broke with a gush of water,
And out leapt armored horses and weapons that clashed and smote --
And, before she laid her pick down, she ended with one stroke,
And all four strings made one sound, as of rending silk
There was quiet in the east boat and quiet in the west,
And we saw the white autumnal moon enter the river's heart.
...When she had slowly placed the pick back among the strings,
She rose and smoothed her clothing and, formal, courteous,
Told us how she had spent her girlhood at the capital,
Living in her parents' house under the Mount of Toads,
And had mastered the guitar at the age of thirteen,
With her name recorded first in the class-roll of musicians,
Her art the admiration even of experts,
Her beauty the envy of all the leading dancers,
How noble youths of Wuling had lavishly competed
And numberless red rolls of silk been given for one song,
And silver combs with shell inlay been snapped by her rhythms,
And skirts the colour of blood been spoiled with stains of wine....
Season after season, joy had followed joy,
Autumn moons and spring winds had passed without her heeding,
Till first her brother left for the war, and then her aunt died,
And evenings went and evenings came, and her beauty faded --
With ever fewer chariots and horses at her door;
So that finally she gave herself as wife to a merchant
Who, prizing money first, careless how he left her,
Had gone, a month before, to Fuliang to buy tea.
And she had been tending an empty boat at the river's mouth,
No company but the bright moon and the cold water.
And sometimes in the deep of night she would dream of her triumphs
And be wakened from her dreams by the scalding of her tears.
Her very first guitar-note had started me sighing;
Now, having heard her story, I was sadder still.
"We are both unhappy -- to the sky's end.
We meet. We understand. What does acquaintance matter?
I came, a year ago, away from the capital
And am now a sick exile here in Jiujiang --
And so remote is Jiujiang that I have heard no music,
Neither string nor bamboo, for a whole year.
My quarters, near the River Town, are low and damp,
With bitter reeds and yellowed rushes all about the house.
And what is to be heard here, morning and evening? --
The bleeding cry of cuckoos, the whimpering of apes.
On flowery spring mornings and moonlit autumn nights
I have often taken wine up and drunk it all alone,
Of course there are the mountain songs and the village pipes,
But they are crude and-strident, and grate on my ears.
And tonight, when I heard you playing your guitar,
I felt as if my hearing were bright with fairymusic.
Do not leave us. Come, sit down. Play for us again.
And I will write a long song concerning a guitar."
...Moved by what I said, she stood there for a moment,
Then sat again to her strings-and they sounded even sadder,
Although the tunes were different from those she had played before....
The feasters, all listening, covered their faces.
But who of them all was crying the most?
This Jiujiang official. My blue sleeve was wet.

073

七言古詩

李商隱

韓碑

元和天子神武姿， 彼何人哉軒与羲，
誓將上雪列圣恥， 坐法宮中朝四夷。
淮西有賊五十載， 封狼生貙貙生羆；
不据山河据平地， 長戈利矛日可麾。
帝得圣相相曰度， 賊斫不死神扶持。
腰懸相印作都統， 陰風慘澹天王旗。
愬武古通作牙爪， 儀曹外郎載筆隨。
行軍司馬智且勇， 十四万眾猶虎貔。
入蔡縛賊獻太廟。 功無与讓恩不訾。
帝曰汝度功第一， 汝從事愈宜為辭。
愈拜稽首蹈且舞， 金石刻畫臣能為。
古者世稱大手筆， 此事不系于職司。
當仁自古有不讓， 言訖屢頷天子頤。
公退齋戒坐小閣， 濡染大筆何淋漓。
點竄堯典舜典字， 涂改清廟生民詩。
文成破体書在紙， 清晨再拜舖丹墀。
表曰臣愈昧死上， 詠神圣功書之碑。
碑高三丈字如斗， 負以靈鰲蟠以螭。
句奇語重喻者少， 讒之天子言其私。
長繩百尺拽碑倒。 粗沙大石相磨治。
公之斯文若元气， 先時已入人肝脾。
湯盤孔鼎有述作， 今無其器存其辭。
嗚呼圣皇及圣相， 相与烜赫流淳熙。
公之斯文不示后， 曷与三五相攀追？
愿書万本誦万過， 口角流沫右手胝；
傳之七十有二代， 以為封禪玉檢明堂基。

Seven-character-ancient-verse

Li Shangyin

THE HAN MONUMENT

The Son of Heaven in Yuanhe times was martial as a god
And might be likened only to the Emperors Xuan and Xi.
He took an oath to reassert the glory of the empire,
And tribute was brought to his palace from all four quarters.
Western Huai for fifty years had been a bandit country,
Wolves becoming lynxes, lynxes becoming bears.
They assailed the mountains and rivers, rising from the plains,
With their long spears and sharp lances aimed at the Sun.
But the Emperor had a wise premier, by the name of Du,
Who, guarded by spirits against assassination,
Hong at his girdle the seal of state, and accepted chief command,
While these savage winds were harrying the flags of the Ruler of Heaven.
Generals Suo, Wu, Gu, and Tong became his paws and claws;
Civil and military experts brought their writingbrushes,
And his recording adviser was wise and resolute.
A hundred and forty thousand soldiers, fighting like lions and tigers,
Captured the bandit chieftains for the Imperial Temple.
So complete a victory was a supreme event;
And the Emperor said: "To you, Du, should go the highest honour,
And your secretary, Yu, should write a record of it."
When Yu had bowed his head, he leapt and danced, saying:
"Historical writings on stone and metal are my especial art;
And, since I know the finest brush-work of the old masters,
My duty in this instance is more than merely official,
And I should be at fault if I modestly declined."
The Emperor, on hearing this, nodded many times.
And Yu retired and fasted and, in a narrow workroom,
His great brush thick with ink as with drops of rain,
Chose characters like those in the Canons of Yao and Xun,
And a style as in the ancient poems Qingmiao and Shengmin.
And soon the description was ready, on a sheet of paper.
In the morning he laid it, with a bow, on the purple stairs.
He memorialized the throne: "I, unworthy,
Have dared to record this exploit, for a monument."
The tablet was thirty feet high, the characters large as dippers;
It was set on a sacred tortoise, its columns flanked with ragons....
The phrases were strange with deep words that few could understand;
And jealousy entered and malice and reached the Emperor --
So that a rope a hundred feet long pulled the tablet down
And coarse sand and small stones ground away its face.
But literature endures, like the universal spirit,
And its breath becomes a part of the vitals of all men.
The Tang plate, the Confucian tripod, are eternal things,
Not because of their forms, but because of their inscriptions....
Sagacious is our sovereign and wise his minister,
And high their successes and prosperous their reign;
But unless it be recorded by a writing such as this,
How may they hope to rival the three and five good rulers?
I wish I could write ten thousand copies to read ten thousand times,
Till spittle ran from my lips and calluses hardened my fingers,
And still could hand them down, through seventy-two generations,
As corner-stones for Rooms of Great Deeds on the Sacred Mountains.

074

樂府

高适

燕歌行并序

漢家煙塵在東北， 漢將辭家破殘賊。
男儿本自重橫行， 天子非常賜顏色。
摐金伐鼓下榆關， 旌旆逶迤碣石間。
校尉羽書飛瀚海， 單于獵火照狼山。
山川蕭條极邊土， 胡騎憑陵雜風雨。
戰士軍前半死生， 美人帳下猶歌舞。
大漠窮秋塞草衰， 孤城落日斗兵稀。
身當恩遇常輕敵， 力盡關山未解圍。
鐵衣遠戍辛勤久， 玉筋應啼別离后。
少婦城南欲斷腸， 征人薊北空回首。
邊庭飄颻那可度？ 絕域蒼茫更何有？
殺气三時作陣云， 寒聲一夜傳刁斗。
相看白刃血紛紛， 死節從來豈顧勳。
君不見沙場征戰苦？ 至今猶憶李將軍。

Folk-song-styled-verse

Gao Shi

A SONG OF THE YAN COUNTRY

The northeastern border of China was dark with smoke and dust.
To repel the savage invaders, our generals, leaving their families,
Strode forth together, looking as heroes should look;
And having received from the Emperor his most gracious favour,
They marched to the beat of gong and drum through the Elm Pass.
They circled the Stone Tablet with a line of waving flags,
Till their captains over the Sea of Sand were twanging feathered orders.
The Tartar chieftain's hunting-fires glimmered along Wolf Mountain,
And heights and rivers were cold and bleak there at the outer border;
But soon the barbarians' horses were plunging through wind and rain.
Half of our men at the front were killed, but the other half are living,
And still at the camp beautiful girls dance for them and sing.
...As autumn ends in the grey sand, with the grasses all withered,
The few surviving watchers by the lonely wall at sunset,
Serving in a good cause, hold life and the foeman lightly.
And yet, for all that they have done, Elm Pass is still unsafe.
Still at the front, iron armour is worn and battered thin,
And here at home food-sticks are made of jade tears.
Still in this southern city young wives' hearts are breaking,
While soldiers at the northern border vainly look toward home.
The fury of the wind cuts our men's advance
In a place of death and blue void, with nothingness ahead.
Three times a day a cloud of slaughter rises over the camp;
And all night long the hour-drums shake their chilly booming,
Until white swords can be seen again, spattered with red blood.
...When death becomes a duty, who stops to think of fame?
Yet in speaking of the rigours of warfare on the desert
We name to this day Li, the great General, who lived long ago.