米芾诗
Poems of Mi Fu
Index
水调歌头 中秋
River Melody Sung in My Head, at moonviewing festival
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砧声送风急 蟠蟀思高秋 我来对景 不学宋玉 解悲愁 收拾凄凉兴况 分付尊中醽醁 |
Stiff winds bring a pounding sound, a clamor of crickets, that makes me yearn for the coming cold. I've come into this landscape not to develop my precious jewel but to ease my melancholy, to tidy up this desolate mood I'm in, guided by the green liquor in my winejar. |
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倍觉不胜幽 自有多情处 明月挂南楼 怅襟怀 横玉笛韵悠悠 清时良夜 |
I really can't stand my isolation. I have lots of things I'm passionate about. A full moon hanging over South Tower makes me as sad as the next person. A jade flute's melody in the distance gives me a peaceful, good night. |
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借我此地倒金瓯 可爱一天风物 遍倚阑干十二 宇宙若萍浮 醉困不知醒 欹枕卧江流 |
I ask myself, "Has my country been turned upside-down? Hasn't this day of typical scenery been lovely?" I've leaned on this balcony a dozen times already. I've wandered time and space like floating duckweed. Drunk and sleepy, still somehow I'm sober. Ah, to rest my head in this river's flow. |
-- 米芾
废话
It may appear that I am taking some liberties with this translation. But I'm not. Amazingly, I'm not even making up the bit about "time and space" -- something you'd never get out of Du Fu or Bai Juyi. Mi Fu definitely has an attitude. But he's just an ordinary guy. He wishes the first good freeze would kill the crickets. He wishes that being what he is didn't make him lonely. He wishes the world weren't turned upside-down. He wishes he could just fall in the river and, sleepily, float away. If you don't wish all these things, with the possible exception of the crickets, you're reading the wrong poet. But here you are. So this must be the right place for you. Isn't it lovely?