孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

西上经灵宝观

Traveling West to Gaze at Divine Treasures


(观即尹真人旧宅)
(Going to take a brief look at the sage's old homes)

道士无白发
语音灵泉清
青松多寿色
白石恒夜明

A Daoist, not yet white-haired,
Chants the divine origin of purity.
Green pines of great age.
White rocks shining in the moonlight.

放步霁霞起
振衣华风生
真文秘中顶
宝气浮四楹

I make my way as the sky clears and brightens
And a glorious wind comes to shake my clothes.
True words were written on these remote peaks,
Their precious spirit floating beneath the sky.

一片古关路
万里今人行
上仙不可见
驱策徒西征

One stretch of old border road is like
Ten thousand miles for modern men.
I can't see myself becoming an immortal
But I press on in my journey to the west.

-- 孟郊


废话

In the title, it isn't clear if 灵宝 is a place name or simple "divine treasures." I'm opting for the latter. In line 4, 白石 or "white stones" refers to the food of the immortals and realized men. Line 8, 宝气浮四楹, is more literally: "Precious spirit floats within the four pillars" where the four pillars are the pillars which hold up the sky in Chinese mythology. The final line could be a reference to the Buddhist monk Xuanzang's famous journey to India which was the subject of the Ming dynasty novel.


Index