卷三、七言古诗
Ⅲ、Seven-character-ancient-verse
　
登幽州台歌
陈子昂

前不见古人， 后不见来者。
念天地之悠悠， 独怆然而涕下。
　
ON A GATE-TOWER AT YUZHOU
Chen Ziang

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.

古意
李颀

男儿事长征， 少小幽燕客。
赌胜马蹄下， 由来轻七尺。
杀人莫敢前， 须如蝟毛磔。
黄云陇底白雪飞， 未得报恩不能归。
辽东小妇年十五， 惯弹琵琶解歌舞。
今为羌笛出塞声， 使我三军泪如雨。
　
AN OLD AIR
Li Qi

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.

送陈章甫

李颀

四月南风大麦黄， 枣花未落桐叶长。

青山朝别暮还见， 嘶马出门思故乡。

陈侯立身何坦荡， 虬须虎眉仍大颡。

腹中贮书一万卷， 不肯低头在草莽。

东门酤酒饮我曹， 心轻万事皆鸿毛。

醉卧不知白日暮， 有时空望孤云高。

长河浪头连天黑， 津口停舟渡不得。

郑国游人未及家， 洛阳行子空叹息。

闻道故林相识多， 罢官昨日今如何。

　

A FAREWELL TO MY FRIEND CHEN ZHANGFU

Li Qi

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?

琴歌
李颀

主人有酒欢今夕， 请奏鸣琴广陵客。
月照城头乌半飞， 霜凄万树风入衣。
铜炉华烛烛增辉， 初弹渌水后楚妃。
一声已动物皆静， 四座无言星欲稀。
清淮奉使千余里， 敢告云山从此始。
　
A LUTE SONG
Li Qi

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.
　

听董大弹胡笳声兼寄语弄房给事
李颀

蔡女昔造胡笳声， 一弹一十有八拍。
胡人落泪沾边草， 汉使断肠对归客。
古戍苍苍烽火寒， 大荒沈沈飞雪白。
先拂声弦后角羽， 四郊秋叶惊摵摵。
董夫子，通神明， 深山窃听来妖精。
言迟更速皆应手， 将往复旋如有情。
空山百鸟散还合， 万里浮云阴且晴。
嘶酸雏雁失群夜， 断绝胡儿恋母声。
川为静其波， 鸟亦罢其鸣。
乌孙部落家乡远， 逻娑沙尘哀怨生。
幽音变调忽飘洒， 长风吹林雨堕瓦。
迸泉飒飒飞木末， 野鹿呦呦走堂下。
长安城连东掖垣， 凤凰池对青琐门。
高才脱略名与利， 日夕望君抱琴至。
　
ON HEARING DONG PLAY THE FLAGEOLET A POEM TO PALACE-ATTENDANT FANG
Li Qi

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.

听安万善吹觱篥歌
李颀

南山截竹为觱篥， 此乐本自龟兹出。
流传汉地曲转奇， 凉州胡人为我吹。
傍邻闻者多叹息， 远客思乡皆泪垂。
世人解听不解赏， 长飙风中自来往。
枯桑老柏寒飕飗， 九雏鸣凤乱啾啾。
龙吟虎啸一时发， 万籁百泉相与秋。
忽然更作渔阳掺， 黄云萧条白日暗。
变调如闻杨柳春， 上林繁花照眼新。
岁夜高堂列明烛， 美酒一杯声一曲。
　
ON HEARING AN WANSHAN PLAY THE REED-PIPE
Li Qi

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.

夜归鹿门山歌
孟浩然

山寺钟鸣昼已昏， 渔梁渡头争渡喧。
人随沙路向江村， 余亦乘舟归鹿门。
鹿门月照开烟树， 忽到庞公栖隐处。
岩扉松径长寂寥， 惟有幽人自来去。
　
RETURNING AT NIGHT TO LUMEN MOUNTAIN
Meng Haoran

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.

庐山谣寄卢侍御虚舟
李白

我本楚狂人， 凤歌笑孔丘。
手持绿玉杖， 朝别黄鹤楼。
五岳寻仙不辞远， 一生好入名山游。
庐山秀出南斗傍， 屏风九叠云锦张；
影落明湖青黛光， 金阙前开二峰长。
银河倒挂三石梁， 香炉瀑布遥相望。
回崖沓障淩苍苍， 翠影红霞映朝日，
鸟飞不到吴天长。
登高壮观天地间， 大江茫茫去不黄。
黄云万里动风色， 白波九道流雪山。
好为庐山谣， 兴因庐山发。
闲窥石镜清我心， 谢公行处苍苔没。
早服还丹无世情， 琴心三叠道初成；
遥见仙人彩云里， 手把芙蓉朝玉京。
先期汗漫九垓上， 愿接卢敖游太清。
　
A SONG OF LU MOUNTAIN TO CENSOR LU XUZHOU
Li Bai

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.

梦游天姥吟留别
李白

海客谈瀛洲， 烟涛微茫信难求。
越人语天姥， 云霓明灭或可睹。
天姥连天向天横， 势拔五岳掩赤城；
天台四万八千丈， 对此欲倒东南倾。
我欲因之梦吴越， 一夜飞渡镜湖月。
湖月照我影， 送我至剡溪；
谢公宿处今尚在， 渌水荡漾清猿啼。
脚著谢公屐， 身登青云梯。
半壁见海日， 空中闻天鸡。
千岩万壑路不定， 迷花倚石忽已暝。
熊咆龙吟殷岩泉， 栗深林兮惊层巅。
云青青兮欲雨， 水澹澹兮生烟。
列缺霹雳， 邱峦崩摧，
洞天石扇， 訇然中开；
青冥浩荡不见底， 日月照耀金银台。
霓为衣兮风为马， 云之君兮纷纷而来下；
虎鼓瑟兮鸾回车。 仙之人兮列如麻。
忽魂悸以魄动， 怳惊起而长嗟。
惟觉时之枕席， 失向来之烟霞。
世间行乐亦如此， 古来万事东流水。
别君去兮何时还？ 且放白鹿青崖间。
须行即骑访名山， 安能摧眉折腰事权贵，
使我不得开心颜？
　
TIANMU MOUNTAIN ASCENDED IN A DREAM
Li Bai

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!

金陵酒肆留别
李白

风吹柳花满店香， 吴姬压酒唤客尝。
金陵子弟来相送， 欲行不行各尽觞。
请君试问东流水， 别意与之谁短长。
　
PARTING AT A WINE-SHOP IN NANJING
Li Bai

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!
　

宣州谢朓楼饯别校书叔云
李白

弃我去者， 昨日之日不可留；
乱我心者， 今日之日多烦忧。
长风万里送秋雁， 对此可以酣高楼。
蓬莱文章建安骨， 中间小谢又清发，
俱怀逸兴壮思飞， 欲上青天览明月。
抽刀断水水更流， 举杯销愁愁更愁。
人生在世不称意， 明朝散发弄扁舟。
　
A FAREWELL TO SECRETARY SHUYUN   AT THE XIETIAO VILLA IN XUANZHOU
Li Bai

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.

走马川行奉送封大夫出师西征
岑参

君不见走马川行雪海边， 平沙莽莽黄入天。
轮台九月风夜吼， 一川碎石大如斗，
随风满地石乱走。 匈奴草黄马正肥，
金山西见烟尘飞， 汉家大将西出师。
将军金甲夜不脱， 半夜军行戈相拨，
风头如刀面如割。 马毛带雪汗气蒸，
五花连钱旋作冰， 幕中草檄砚水凝。
虏骑闻之应胆慑， 料知短兵不敢接，
车师西门伫献捷。
　
A SONG OF RUNNING-HORSE RIVER IN FAREWELL
TO GENERAL FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION
Cen Can

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!

轮台歌奉送封大夫出师西征
岑参

轮台城头夜吹角， 轮台城北旄头落。
羽书昨夜过渠黎， 单于已在金山西。
戍楼西望烟尘黑， 汉兵屯在轮台北。
上将拥旄西出征， 平明吹笛大军行。
四边伐鼓雪海涌， 三军大呼阴山动。
虏塞兵气连云屯， 战场白骨缠草根。
剑河风急雪片阔， 沙口石冻马蹄脱。
亚相勤王甘苦辛， 誓将报主静边尘。
古来青史谁不见？ 今见功名胜古人。
　
A SONG OF WHEEL TOWER IN FAREWELL TO GENERAL
FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION
Cen Can

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.

白雪歌送武判官归京
岑参

北风卷地白草折， 胡天八月即飞雪；
忽如一夜春风来， 千树万树梨花开。
散入珠帘湿罗幕， 狐裘不暖锦衾薄。
将军角弓不得控， 都护铁衣冷犹著。
瀚海阑干百丈冰， 愁云黪淡万里凝。
中军置酒饮归客， 胡琴琵琶与羌笛。
纷纷暮雪下辕门， 风掣红旗冻不翻。
轮台东门送君去， 去时雪满天山路；
山回路转不见君， 雪上空留马行处。
　
A SONG OF WHITE SNOW IN FAREWELL TO FIELD-CLERK WU GOING HOME
Cen Can

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.
　

韦讽录事宅观曹将军画马图
杜甫

国初以来画鞍马， 神妙独数江都王。
将军得名三十载， 人间又见真乘黄。
曾貌先帝照夜白， 龙池十日飞霹雳，
内府殷红玛瑙盘， 婕妤传诏才人索。
盘赐将军拜舞归， 轻纨细绮相追飞；
贵戚权门得笔迹， 始觉屏障生光辉。
昔日太宗拳毛騧， 近时郭家狮子花。
今之新图有二马， 复令识者久叹嗟，
此皆骑战一敌万， 缟素漠漠开风沙。
其余七匹亦殊绝， 迥若寒空杂烟雪；
霜蹄蹴踏长楸间， 马官厮养森成列。
可怜九马争神骏， 顾视清高气深稳。
借问苦心爱者谁？ 后有韦讽前支盾。
忆昔巡幸新丰宫， 翠花拂天来向东；
腾骧磊落三万匹， 皆与此图筋骨同。
自从献宝朝河宗， 无复射蛟江水中。
君不见，金粟堆前松柏里，龙媒去尽鸟呼风。
　
A DRAWING OF A HORSE BY GENERAL CAO  AT SECRETARY WEI FENG'S HOUSE
Du Fu

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.

丹青引赠曹霸将军
杜甫
　
将军魏武之子孙， 于今为庶为青门；
英雄割据虽已矣！ 文采风流今尚存。
学书初学卫夫人， 但恨无过王右军。
丹青不知老将至， 富贵于我如浮云。
开元之中常引见， 承恩数上南熏殿，
凌烟功臣少颜色， 将军下笔开生面。
良相头上进贤冠， 猛将腰间大羽箭。
褒公鄂公毛发动， 英姿飒爽犹酣战。
先帝天马玉花骢， 画工如山貌不同。
是日牵来赤墀下， 迥立阊阖生长风。
诏谓将军拂绢素， 意匠惨淡经营中；
斯须九重真龙出， 一洗万古凡马空。
玉花却在御榻上， 榻上庭前屹相向；
至尊含笑催赐金， 圉人太仆皆惆怅，
弟子韩干早入室， 亦能画马穷殊相；
干惟画肉不画骨， 忍使骅骝气凋丧。
将军画善盖有神， 偶逢佳士亦写真；
即今漂泊干戈际， 屡貌寻常行路人。
涂穷反遭俗眼白， 世上未有如公贫；
但看古来盛名下， 终日坎壈缠其身。
　
A SONG OF A PAINTING TO GENERAL CAO
Du Fu

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.

寄韩谏议
杜甫

今我不乐思岳阳， 身欲奋飞病在床。
美人娟娟隔秋水， 濯足洞庭望八荒。
鸿飞冥冥日月白， 青枫叶赤天雨霜。
玉京群帝集北斗， 或骑麒麟翳凤凰。
芙蓉旌旗烟雾落， 影动倒景摇潇湘。
星宫之君醉琼浆， 羽人稀少不在旁。
似闻昨者赤松子， 恐是汉代韩张良；
昔随刘氏定长安， 帷幄未改神惨伤。
国家成败吾岂敢？ 色难腥腐餐枫香。
周南留滞古所惜， 南极老人应寿昌。
美人胡为隔秋水？ 焉得置之贡玉堂。
　
A LETTER TO CENSOR HAN
Du Fu

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.

古柏行
杜甫

孔明庙前有老柏， 柯如青铜根如石；
双皮溜雨四十围， 黛色参天二千尺。
君臣已与时际会， 树木犹为人爱惜。
云来气接巫峡长， 月出寒通雪山白。
忆昨路绕锦亭东， 先主武侯同閟宫。
崔嵬枝干郊原古， 窈窕丹青户牖空。
落落盘踞虽得地， 冥冥孤高多烈风。
扶持自是神明力， 正直元因造化功。
大厦如倾要梁栋， 万牛回首丘山重。
不露文章世已惊， 未辞剪伐谁能送？
苦心岂免容蝼蚁？ 香叶终经宿鸾凤。
志士幽人莫怨嗟， 古来材大难为用。
　
A SONG OF AN OLD CYPRESS
Du Fu

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.

观公孙大娘弟子舞剑器行并序
杜甫

    大历二年十月十九日夔府别驾元持宅见临颍李十二 娘舞剑器，壮其蔚跂。问其所师，曰：余公孙大娘 弟子也。开元三载，余尚童稚，记于郾城观公孙氏 舞剑器浑脱。浏漓顿挫，独出冠时。自高头宜春梨 园二伎坊内人，洎外供奉，晓是舞者，圣文神武皇 帝初，公孙一人而已。玉貌锦衣，况余白首！今兹 弟子亦匪盛颜。既辨其由来，知波澜莫二。抚事慷 慨，聊为剑器行。昔者吴人张旭善草书书帖，数尝 于邺县见公孙大娘舞西河剑器，自此草书长进，豪 荡感激。即公孙可知矣！

昔有佳人公孙氏， 一舞剑器动四方。
观者如山色沮丧， 天地为之久低昂。
霍如羿射九日落， 矫如群帝骖龙翔，
来如雷霆收震怒， 罢如江海凝清光。
绛唇珠袖两寂寞， 晚有弟子传芬芳。
临颍美人在白帝， 妙舞此曲神扬扬。
与余问答既有以， 感时抚事增惋伤。
先帝侍女八千人， 公孙剑器初第一。
五十年间似反掌， 风尘澒洞昏王室。
梨园子弟散如烟， 女乐余姿映寒日。
金粟堆前木已拱， 瞿塘石城草萧瑟。
玳筵急管曲复终， 乐极哀来月东出。
老夫不知其所往？ 足茧荒山转愁疾。
　
A SONG OF DAGGER-DANCING TO A GIRL-PUPIL OF LADY GONGSUN
Du Fu

On the 19th of the Tenth-month in the second year of Dali, I saw, in the house of the Kueifu official Yuante, a girl named Li from Lingying dancing with a dagger. I admired her skill and asked who was her teacher. She named Lady Gongsun. I remembered that in the third year of Kaiyuan at Yancheng, when I was a little boy, I saw Lady Gongsun dance. She was the only one in the Imperial Theatre who could dance with this weapon. Now she is aged and unknown, and even her pupil has passed the heyday of beauty. I wrote this poem to express my wistfulness. The work of Zhang Xu of the Wu district, that great master of grassy writing, was improved by his having been present when Lady Gongsun danced in the Yeh district. From this may be judged the art of 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.

石鱼湖上醉歌并序
元结

    漫叟以公田米酿酒，因休暇，则载酒于湖上， 时取一醉；欢醉中，据湖岸，引臂向鱼取酒， 使舫载之，遍饮坐者。意疑倚巴丘，酌于君山 之上，诸子环洞庭而坐，酒舫泛泛然，触波涛 而往来者，乃作歌以长之。

石鱼湖， 似洞庭，
夏水欲满君山青。
山为樽， 水为沼，
酒徒历历坐洲鸟。
长风连日作大浪， 不能废人运酒舫。
我持长瓢坐巴丘， 酌饮四座以散愁。
　
A DRINKING SONG AT STONE-FISH LAKE
Yuan Jie

I have used grain from the public fields, for distilling wine. After my office hours I have the wine loaded on a boat and then I seat my friends on the bank of the lake. The little wine-boats come to each of us and supply us with wine. We seem to be drinking on Pa Islet in Lake Dongting. And I write this poem.

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.