薛涛诗
Poems of Xue Tao
Index
赋凌云寺二首
Freeverse on Pure Cloud Temple, in two verses
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闻说凌云寺里苔 风高日近绝纤埃 横云点染芙蓉壁 似待诗人宝月来 |
They say Pure Cloud Temple is covered in moss. High winds, close to the sun, blinding with fine dust. Slanting clouds add beauty to hibiscus-covered walls And, as if just for poets, a jewelled moon arrives. |
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闻说凌云寺里花 飞空绕磴逐江斜 有时锁得嫦娥镜 镂出瑶台五色霞 |
They say Pure Cloud Temple is covered in flowers. Rising into the sky, winding stone stairs, plunging river. Sometimes, with a mirror, they release Chang E, Who steps out of her jade statue into rainbow mists. |
-- 薛涛
废话
Chang E was a beautiful woman who escaped from a man by fleeing to the moon. Stories vary. She was protecting her virtue. She was protecting her husband's magic elixir. It seems like one version I read had her going to the moon for the wrong reasons and regretting it later. The second verse could be artistic fancy. But it could also be some kind of religious ritual for the public where, by using a mirror, the statue appears to come alive in the mists. Maybe within a waterfall on the grounds. It's the kind of thing temples end up doing to keep the money coming in.