A brief collection of my attempted English renditions of selected Chinese poems, both contemporary and classical. (Each original classical Chinese poem may be presented in both the traditional and simplified forms, followed by the English translation.) Comments and suggested amendments welcome. (But I may not have the time to respond to every comment.) I am a follower of Andrew W F Wong's excellent blog "Classical Chinese Poems in English".
Thursday, 13 February 2014
夜月星河 杜鹃聲裏野煙浮 The cuckoo's plaintive cries Buoy the country smoke up the skies
《七絕 ‧ 春日》夜月星河
杜鹃聲裏野煙浮，
碧水盈盈蕩小舟。
堤岸桃紅新柳綠，
白雲春夢兩悠悠。
Qī Jué ‧ Chūn Rì:
"28-Character Quatrain ‧ Spring Day"
-- by 夜月星河 'Night Moon Starry River'
-- Translated by Frank C Yue
The cuckoo's plaintive cries
Buoy the country smoke up the skies;
On the stream's green water brimming,
A tiny boat is a-roaming.
On both banks, peach flow'rs are crimson,
Green the new shoots from willow trees;
Together, the White Cloud handsome
And her Erotic Dream soar free!
(See 2 versions of the '4-line verse' rendition of this 4-line 28-Character Chinese poem on my posting dd. 2/15/14.)
Cuckoo cries loudly in the wilderness, upward rising the smoke,
ReplyDeleteA little boat rocks in the sparkling clear stream,
River bank peach tree blossoms, willows are newly green,
Cloud flows lazily in the sky, people having an endless Spring dream.