Some Chinese Poems from the Tang Dynasty

Boating in Autumn

Away and away I sail in my light boat;
My heart leaps with a great gust of joy.
Through the leafless branches I see the temple in the wood;
Over the dwindling stream the stone bridge towers.
Down the grassy lanes sheep and oxen pass;
In the misty village cranes and magpies cry.
Back in my home I drink a cup of wine
And fear not the hunger of the evening wind.

Lu Yu

(The night wind eats men's souls.)

Tell Me Now

"Tell me now, what should a man want
But to sit alone, sipping his cup of wine?"

I should like to have visitors come and discuss philosophy
And not to have the tax collector knocking for money I cannot pay
My three sons married into good families
And my five daughters wedded to steady husbands.
Then I could jog through a happy five-score years
And, at the end, need no paradise.

Wang Chi

Reading The Book of Hills and Seas

In the month of June the grass grows high
And round my cottage thick-leaved branches sway.
There is not a bird but delights in the place where it rests:
And I, too, love my thatched cottage.
I have done my plowing;
I have sown my seed.
Again I have time to sit and read my books.
In high spirits I pour out my spring wine
And pick the lettuce growing in my garden.
A gentle rain come stealing up from the east
And a sweet wind bears it company.
My thoughts float idly over the story of King Chou
My eyes wander over the pictures of Hills and Seas.
At a single glance I survey the whole universe.
He will never be happy, whom such pleasures fail to please!

Tao Chien

All translated by Arthur Waley