261
七言絕句
賀知章
回鄉偶書
少小离家老大回， 鄉音無改鬢毛衰；
儿童相見不相識， 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?"
262
七言絕句
張旭
桃花溪
又作溪
隱隱飛橋隔野煙， 石磯西畔問漁船；
桃花盡日隨流水， 洞在清溪何處邊？
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!
263
七言絕句
王維
九月九日憶山東兄弟
獨在异鄉為异客， 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.
264
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."
265
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.
266
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， 帘外春寒賜錦袍。
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.
267
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， 古來征戰几人回。
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?
268
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.
269
七言絕句
李白
下江陵
朝辭白帝彩云間， 千里江陵一日還。
兩岸猿聲啼不住， 輕舟已過万重山。
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.
270
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."
271
七言絕句
杜甫
江南逢李龜年
岐王宅里尋常見， 崔九堂前几度聞。
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.
272
七言絕句
韋應物
滁州西澗
獨怜幽草澗邊生， 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.
273
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.
274
七言絕句
韓翃
寒食
春城無處不飛花， 寒食東風御柳斜。
日暮漢宮傳蜡燭， 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.
275
七言絕句
劉方平
月夜
更深月色半人家， 北斗闌干南斗斜。
今夜偏知春气暖， 虫聲新透綠窗沙。
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.
276
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.
277
七言絕句
柳中庸
征人怨
歲歲金河复玉關， 朝朝馬策与刀環。
三春白雪歸青冢， 万里黃河繞黑山。
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.
278
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， 水晶帘卷近秋河。
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.
279
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.
280
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.
281
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.
282
七言絕句
白居易
后宮詞
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.
283
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， 剔開紅焰救飛蛾。
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.
284
七言絕句
張祜
集靈台之一
日光斜照集靈台， 紅樹花迎曉露開。
昨夜上皇新授菉， 太真含笑入帘來。
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.
285
七言絕句
張祜
集靈台之二
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.
286
七言絕句
張祜
題金陵渡
金陵津渡小山樓， 一宿行人自可愁。
潮落夜江斜月里， 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.
287
七言絕句
朱慶余
宮詞
寂寂花時閉院門， 美人相并立瓊軒。
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.
288
七言絕句
朱慶余
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.
289
七言絕句
杜牧
將赴吳興登樂游原
清時有味是無能， 閒愛孤云靜愛僧。
欲把一麾江海去， 樂游原上望昭陵。
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.
290
七言絕句
杜牧
赤壁
折戟沈沙鐵未銷， 自將磨洗認前朝。
東風不与周郎便， 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.
291
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， 隔江猶唱后庭花。
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.
292
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.
293
七言絕句
杜牧
遣怀
落魄江湖載酒行， 楚腰纖細掌中輕。
十年一覺揚州夢， 贏得青樓薄幸名。
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.
294
七言絕句
杜牧
秋夕
銀燭秋光冷畫屏， 輕羅小扇扑流螢。
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.
295
七言絕句
杜牧
贈別之一
娉娉裊裊十三余， 豆蔻梢頭二月初。
春風十里揚州路， 卷上珠帘總不如。
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.
296
七言絕句
杜牧
贈別之二
多情卻似總無情， 唯覺樽前笑不成。
蜡燭有心還惜別， 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.
297
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.
298
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?
299
七言絕句
李商隱
寄令狐郎中
嵩云秦樹久离居， 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.
300
七言絕句
李商隱
為有
為有云屏無限嬌， 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.
301
七言絕句
李商隱
隋宮
乘興南游不戒嚴， 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.
302
七言絕句
李商隱
瑤池
瑤池阿母綺窗開， 黃竹歌聲動地哀。
八駿日行三万里， 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?
303
七言絕句
李商隱
嫦娥
云母屏風燭影深， 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?
304
七言絕句
李商隱
賈生
宣室求賢訪逐臣， 賈生才調更無倫。
可怜夜半虛前席， 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.
305
七言絕句
溫庭筠
瑤瑟怨
冰簟銀床夢不成， 碧天如水夜云輕。
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.
306
七言絕句
鄭畋
馬嵬坡
玄宗回馬楊妃死， 云雨難忘日月新。
終是圣明天子事， 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.
307
七言絕句
韓偓
已涼
碧闌干外繡帘垂， 猩色屏風畫折枝。
八尺龍須方錦褥， 已涼天气未寒時。
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.
308
七言絕句
韋庄
金陵圖
江雨霏霏江草齊， 六朝如夢鳥空啼。
無情最是台城柳， 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.
309
七言絕句
陳陶
隴西行
誓掃匈奴不顧身， 五千貂錦喪胡塵。
可怜無定河邊骨， 猶是深閨夢里人。
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.
310
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， 猶為离人照落花。
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.
311
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?