孟郊诗

Poems of Meng Jiao


Index

江邑春霖奉赠陈侍御

A river town's spring rains, respectfully presented to Chen Daiyu


江上花木冻
雨中零落春
应由放忠直
在此成漂沦

Along this northern river, frozen trees blossom.
All this rain makes for a messy spring.
It's enough to make things right with the world,
This floating here, like a pitiful, lonely wanderer.

嘉艳皆损污
好音难殷勤
天涯多远恨
雪涕盈芳辰

It's beautiful what a wreck everyone is, and now
Someone's singing but it's hard to make out.
Beyond the edge of everything, distant regrets.
Tears of snow on a beautiful spring morning.

坐哭青草上
卧吟幽水滨
兴言念风俗
得意唯波鳞

Sitting, weeping, on the new flowery grass.
Lying here, chanting, a remote river bank.
Right words should speak to the common ways,
Give up all their smug and shiny self-satisfaction.

枕席病流湿
檐楹若飞津
始知吴楚水
不及京洛尘

Sick in bed, sheets and pillow soaked in sweat.
Eaves and pillars like flying cliffs.
I'm starting to see Wu's and Chu's southern rivers
Are not so good as Luoyang's dust.

风浦荡归棹
泥陂陷征轮
两途日无遂
相赠唯沾巾

I row on back, swaying through windy shallows.
Along the muddy shores, all's bogged down.
These two roads, these unsuccessful days,
We send each other tear-soaked rags.

-- 孟郊


废话

I've tried really hard not to spoil this poem. Which is impossible to do without it sounding like utter nonsense. But I've kept my hands off it as best I could. The poem is like a long jazz riff. It kind of has echoes of things without the usual literary allusions or veiled critiques. Just echoes, images, feelings. It's not long enough to be Coltrane. But it's kind of a Coltrane moment.


Index