孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

送无怀道士游富春山水

Escorting Daoist Wu Huai, who travels to Fuchun River's landscape


(一作送别吴逸士归山)
(Written as a farewell to Monk Wu Yi who returned to the mountains)

造化绝高处
富春独多观
山浓翠滴洒
水折珠摧残

Blessings on your remote heights.
On Fuchun river, gaze down in solitude.
Dense mountains, sprinkled with green wine.
Plunging river, a wreckage of pearls.

溪镜不隐发
树衣长遇寒
风猿虚空飞
月狖叫啸酸

Creek's mirror does not hide its vigor.
Trees' garments, long accustomed to the chill.
Wind gibbons fly past in the void.
Moon mandrills greet your with their bitterness.

信此神仙路
岂为时俗安
煮金阴阳火
囚怪星宿坛

I believe this is the Immortals' Road.
How could this peace be worldly?
Transmuting gold in the fires of Creation.
Confining evil upon the starry altar.

花发我未识
玉生忽丛攒
蓬莱浮荡漾
非道相从难

These blossoms are as yet unknown to me,
This jade birth that springs forth in abundance.
Penglai floats upon the waves,
Its way not too demanding for you.

-- 孟郊


废话

Meng Jiao is so sweet. He couldn't be more Buddhist. But here, for his daoshi friend, he writes a poem that couldn't be more Daoist. Lines 11 and 12 refer to internal alchemy, Penglai is the island home of immortals, somewhere near Japan. His describing a plunging river as a "wreckage of pearls" is beautiful as are mountains "sprinkled with green wine." The green here is not regular green (绿) but 翠, the green of a kingfisher's feathers. The apes are puzzling. Both are actually gibbons. The second is a long-nosed variety, the description of which suggests mandrills in English. But whether the wind and moon are part of their Chinese names or part of Meng Jiao's poetry is more than I can say.


Index