Chinese poetry

Moonlit Night
Du Fu

The moon shines in Fuzhou tonight,
In her chamber, she watches alone.
I pity my distant boy and girl-
They don’t know why she thinks of Chang’an.
Her cloud-like hair is sweet with mist,
Her jade arms cold in the clear moonlight.
When shall we lean in the empty window,
Together in brightness, and tears dried up?

 

Long Yearning
Li Bai

Long yearning,
To be in Chang’an.
The grasshoppers weave their autumn song by the golden railing of the well;
Frost coalesces on my bamboo mat, changing its colour with cold.
My lonely lamp is not bright, I’d like to end these thoughts;
I roll back the hanging, gaze at the moon, and long sigh in vain.
The beautiful person’s like a flower beyond the edge of the clouds.
Above is the black night of heaven’s height;
Below is the green water billowing on.
The sky is long, the road is far, bitter flies my spirit;
The spirit I dream can’t get through, the mountain pass is hard.
Long yearning,
Breaks my heart.

 

New Year’s Watch
Su Shi

Soon now, we’ll mark the year’s end that approaches,
It’s like a snake that crawls into a hole.
Already half its scaly length is hidden,
What man can stop us losing the last trace?
And even if we want to tie its tail,
No matter how we try, we can’t succeed.
The children make all effort not to sleep,
We laugh together, watching through the night.
The cockerels should not cry the dawn for now,
The drums as well should give the hour respect.
We sat so long the lamp’s burnt down to ash,
I rise and see the Plough is slanting north.
Next year, perhaps, my span of years could end,
My fear is that I’ve just been marking time.
So exert ourselves to the utmost here tonight,
I still admire the exuberance of our youth!

 

(From the Internet)

 

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