孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

游城南韩氏庄

Traveling south of the city to visit the Han clan estate.


初疑潇湘水
锁在朱门中
时见水底月
动摇池上风

I was wrong about Xiaoxiang River --
Our shackles come from our own red gates.
Before, the moon rested on the river bottom.
Now it wavers, trembling in the wind.

清气润竹林
白光连虚空
浪簇霄汉羽
岸芳金碧丛

In the pure air of the bamboo forest,
White gleams enter this transient world.
They gather in waves, on heavenly wings
And, beyond, the fragrant shore is radiant.

何言数亩间
环泛路不穷
愿逐神仙侣
飘然汗漫通

Who says to count your property?
On the Great Wheel, the road is endless.
I want to follow the Immortal Companions,
Floating through the vastness.

-- 孟郊


废话

This poem of Meng Jiao's both breaks explicitly from the references to the Chu kingdom and confirms his choosing to follow Buddhism. There are half a dozen Buddhist references here. If I had a Chinese Buddhist dictionary, there might be more. His Buddhism has a definite Daoist flavor though. His ideal remains the pure and free wandering rather than the extinguishment of self.


Index