Three Hundred Tang Poems (201-320)

201
七言律詩
皇甫冉
春思
鶯啼燕語報新年， 馬邑龍堆路幾千。 家住層城鄰漢苑， 心隨明月到胡天。 機中錦字論長恨， 樓上花枝笑獨眠。 為問天戎竇車騎， 何時返旆勒燕然。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Huangfu Ran
SPRING THOUGHTS
Finch-notes and swallow-notes tell the new year.... But so far are the Town of the Horse and the Dragon Mound From this our house, from these walls and Han Gardens, That the moon takes my heart to the Tartar sky. I have woven in the frame endless words of my grieving.... Yet this petal-bough is smiling now on my lonely sleep. Oh, ask General Dou when his flags will come home And his triumph be carved on the rock of Yanran mountain!

202
七言律詩
盧綸
晚次鄂州
雲開遠見漢陽城， 猶是孤帆一日程。 估客晝眠知浪靜， 舟人夜語覺潮生。 三湘愁鬢逢秋色， 萬里歸心對月明。 舊業已隨征戰盡， 更堪江上鼓鼙聲。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Lu Lun
A NIGHT-MOORING AT WUCHANG
Far off in the clouds stand the walls of Hanyang, Another day's journey for my lone sail.... Though a river-merchant ought to sleep in this calm weather, I listen to the tide at night and voices of the boatmen. ...My thin hair grows wintry, like the triple Xiang streams, Three thousand miles my heart goes, homesick with the moon; But the war has left me nothing of my heritage -- And oh, the pang of hearing these drums along the river!

203
七言律詩
柳宗元
登柳州城樓寄漳汀封連四州刺史
城上高樓接大荒， 海天愁思正茫茫。 驚風亂颭芙蓉水， 密雨斜侵薜荔牆。 嶺樹重遮千里目， 江流曲似九迴腸。 共來百越文身地， 猶自音書滯一鄉。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Liu Zongyuan
FROM THE CITY-TOWER OF LIUZHOU TO MY FOUR FELLOW-OFFICIALS AT ZHANG, DING, FENG, AND LIAN DISTRICTS
At this lofty tower where the town ends, wilderness begins; And our longing has as far to go as the ocean or the sky.... Hibiscus-flowers by the moat heave in a sudden wind, And vines along the wall are whipped with slanting rain. Nothing to see for three hundred miles but a blur of woods and mountain -- And the river's nine loops, twisting in our bowels.... This is where they have sent us, this land of tattooed people -- And not even letters, to keep us in touch with home.

204
七言律詩
劉禹錫
西塞山懷古
王濬樓船下益州， 金陵王氣黯然收。 千尋鐵鎖沈江底， 一片降旛出石頭。 人世幾回傷往事， 山形依舊枕寒流。 從今四海為家日， 故壘蕭蕭蘆荻秋。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Liu Yuxi
THOUGHTS OF OLD TIME AT WEST FORT MOUNTAIN
Since Wang Jun brought his towering ships down from Yizhou, The royal ghost has pined in the city of Nanjing. Ten thousand feet of iron chain were sunk here to the bottom -- And then came the flag of surrender on the Wall of Stone.... Cycles of change have moved into the past, While still this mountain dignity has commanded the cold river; And now comes the day of the Chinese world united, And the old forts fill with ruin and with autumn reeds.

205
七言律詩
元稹
遣悲懷之一
謝公最小偏憐女， 自嫁黔婁百事乖。 顧我無衣搜藎篋， 泥他沽酒拔金釵。 野蔬充膳甘長藿， 落葉添薪仰古槐。 今日俸錢過十萬， 與君營奠復營齋。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Yuan Zhen
AN ELEGY I
O youngest, best-loved daughter of Xie, Who unluckily married this penniless scholar, You patched my clothes from your own wicker basket, And I coaxed off your hairpins of gold, to buy wine with; For dinner we had to pick wild herbs -- And to use dry locust-leaves for our kindling. ...Today they are paying me a hundred thousand -- And all that I can bring to you is a temple sacrifice.

206
七言律詩
元稹
遣悲懷之二
昔日戲言身後事， 今朝都到眼前來。 衣裳已施行看盡， 針線猶存未忍開。 尚想舊情憐婢僕， 也曾因夢送錢財。 誠知此恨人人有， 貧賤夫妻百事哀。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Yuan Zhen
AN ElEGY II
We joked, long ago, about one of us dying, But suddenly, before my eyes, you are gone. Almost all your clothes have been given away; Your needlework is sealed, I dare not look at it.... I continue your bounty to our men and our maids -- Sometimes, in a dream, I bring you gifts. ...This is a sorrow that all mankind must know -- But not as those know it who have been poor together.

207
七言律詩
元稹
遣悲懷之三
閑坐悲君亦自悲， 百年都是幾多時？ 鄧攸無子尋知命， 潘岳悼亡猶費詞。 同穴窅冥何所望？ 他生緣會更難期。 惟將終夜長開眼， 報答平生未展眉。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Yuan Zhen
AN ELEGY III
I sit here alone, mourning for us both. How many years do I lack now of my threescore and ten? There have been better men than I to whom heaven denied a son, There was a poet better than I whose dead wife could not hear him. What have I to hope for in the darkness of our tomb? You and I had little faith in a meeting after death- Yet my open eyes can see all night That lifelong trouble of your brow.

208
七言律詩
白居易
自河南經亂，關內阻饑，兄弟離散，各在一處。因望月有感，聊書所懷，寄上浮梁大兄，於潛七兄，烏江十五兄，兼示符離及下邽弟妹。
時難年荒世業空， 弟兄羈旅各西東。 田園寥落干戈後， 骨肉流離道路中。 弔影分為千里雁， 辭根散作九秋蓬。 共看明月應垂淚， 一夜鄉心五處同。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Bai Juyi
TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS ADRIFT IN TROUBLED TIMES THIS POEM OF THE MOON
Since the disorders in Henan and the famine in Guannei, my brothers and sisters have been scattered. Looking at the moon, I express my thoughts in this poem, which I send to my eldest brother at Fuliang, my seventh brother at Yuqian, My fifteen brother at Wujiang and my younger brothers and sisters at Fuli and Xiagui.
My heritage lost through disorder and famine, My brothers and sisters flung eastward and westward, My fields and gardens wrecked by the war, My own flesh and blood become scum of the street, I moan to my shadow like a lone-wandering wildgoose, I am torn from my root like a water-plant in autumn: I gaze at the moon, and my tears run down For hearts, in five places, all sick with one wish.

209
七言律詩
李商隱
錦瑟
錦瑟無端五十絃， 一絃一柱思華年。 莊生曉夢迷蝴蝶， 望帝春心託杜鵑。 滄海月明珠有淚， 藍田日暖玉生煙。 此情可待成追憶， 只是當時已惘然。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
THE INLAID HARP
I wonder why my inlaid harp has fifty strings, Each with its flower-like fret an interval of youth. ...The sage Chuangzi is day-dreaming, bewitched by butterflies, The spring-heart of Emperor Wang is crying in a cuckoo, Mermen weep their pearly tears down a moon-green sea, Blue fields are breathing their jade to the sun.... And a moment that ought to have lasted for ever Has come and gone before I knew.

210
七言律詩
李商隱
無題
昨夜星辰昨夜風， 畫樓西畔桂堂東。 身無綵鳳雙飛翼， 心有靈犀一點通。 隔座送鉤春酒暖， 分曹射覆蠟燈紅。 嗟余聽鼓應官去， 走馬蘭臺類轉蓬。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED
The stars of last night and the wind of last night Are west of the Painted Chamber and east of Cinnamon Hall. ...Though I have for my body no wings like those of the bright- coloured phoenix, Yet I feel the harmonious heart-beat of the Sacred Unicorn. Across the spring-wine, while it warms me, I prompt you how to bet Where, group by group, we are throwing dice in the light of a crimson lamp; Till the rolling of a drum, alas, calls me to my duties And I mount my horse and ride away, like a water-plant cut adrift.

211
七言律詩
李商隱
隋宮
紫泉宮殿鎖煙霞， 欲取蕪城作帝家。 玉璽不緣歸日角， 錦帆應是到天涯。 於今腐草無螢火， 終古垂楊有暮鴉。 地下若逢陳後主， 豈宜重問後庭花？

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
THE PALACE OF THE SUI EMPEROR
His Palace of Purple Spring has been taken by mist and cloud, As he would have taken all Yangzhou to be his private domain But for the seal of imperial jade being seized by the first Tang Emperor, He would have bounded with his silken sails the limits of the world. Fire-flies are gone now, have left the weathered grasses, But still among the weeping-willows crows perch at twilight. ...If he meets, there underground, the Later Chen Emperor, Do you think that they will mention a Song of Courtyard Flowers?

212
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之一
來是空言去絕蹤， 月斜樓上五更鐘。 夢為遠別啼難喚， 書被催成墨未濃。 蠟照半籠金翡翠， 麝熏微度繡芙蓉。 劉郎已恨蓬山遠， 更隔蓬山一萬重。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED I
You said you would come, but you did not, and you left me with no other trace Than the moonlight on your tower at the fifth-watch bell. I cry for you forever gone, I cannot waken yet, I try to read your hurried note, I find the ink too pale. ...Blue burns your candle in its kingfisher-feather lantern And a sweet breath steals from your hibiscus-broidered curtain. But far beyond my reach is the Enchanted Mountain, And you are on the other side, ten thousand peaks away.

213
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之二
颯颯東風細雨來， 芙蓉塘外有輕雷。 金蟾齧璅燒香入， 玉虎牽絲汲井迴。 賈氏窺簾韓掾少， 宓妃留枕魏王才。 春心莫共花爭發， 一寸想思一寸灰。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED II
A misty rain comes blowing with a wind from the east, And wheels faintly thunder beyond Hibiscus Pool. ...Round the golden-toad lock, incense is creeping; The jade tiger tells, on its cord, of water being drawn A great lady once, from behind a screen, favoured a poor youth; A fairy queen brought a bridal mat once for the ease of a prince and then vanished. ...Must human hearts blossom in spring, like all other flowers? And of even this bright flame of love, shall there be only ashes?

214
七言律詩
李商隱
籌筆驛
猿鳥猶疑畏簡書， 風雲常為護儲胥。 徒令上將揮神筆， 終見降王走傳車。 管樂有才原不忝， 關張無命欲何如？ 他年錦里經祠廟， 梁父吟成恨有餘。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
IN THE CAMP OF THE SKETCHING BRUSH
Monkeys and birds are still alert for your orders And winds and clouds eager to shield your fortress. ...You were master of the brush, and a sagacious general, But your Emperor, defeated, rode the prison-cart. You were abler than even the greatest Zhou statesmen, Yet less fortunate than the two Shu generals who were killed in action. And, though at your birth-place a temple has been built to you, You never finished singing your Song of the Holy Mountain

215
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之三
相見時難別亦難， 東風無力百花殘。 春蠶到死絲方盡， 蠟炬成灰淚始乾。 曉鏡但愁雲鬢改， 夜吟應覺月光寒。 蓬萊此去無多路， 青鳥殷勤為探看。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED III
Time was long before I met her, but is longer since we parted, And the east wind has arisen and a hundred flowers are gone, And the silk-worms of spring will weave until they die And every night the candles will weep their wicks away. Mornings in her mirror she sees her hair-cloud changing, Yet she dares the chill of moonlight with her evening song. ...It is not so very far to her Enchanted Mountain O blue-birds, be listening!-Bring me what she says!

216
七言律詩
李商隱
春雨
悵臥新春白袷衣， 白門寥落意多違。 紅樓隔雨相望冷， 珠箔飄燈獨自歸。 遠路應悲春晼晚， 殘宵猶得夢依稀。 玉璫緘札何由達， 萬里雲羅一雁飛。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
SPRING RAIN
I am lying in a white-lined coat while the spring approaches, But am thinking only of the White Gate City where I cannot be. ...There are two red chambers fronting the cold, hidden by the rain, And a lantern on a pearl screen swaying my lone heart homeward. ...The long road ahead will be full of new hardship, With, late in the nights, brief intervals of dream. Oh, to send you this message, this pair of jade earrings! -- I watch a lonely wildgoose in three thousand miles of cloud.

217
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之四
鳳尾香羅薄幾重， 碧文圓頂夜深縫。 扇裁月魄羞難掩， 車走雷聲語未通。 曾是寂寥金燼暗， 斷無消息石榴紅。 斑騅只繫垂楊岸， 何處西南任好風？

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED IV
A faint phoenix-tail gauze, fragrant and doubled, Lines your green canopy, closed for the night.... Will your shy face peer round a moon-shaped fan, And your voice be heard hushing the rattle of my carriage? It is quiet and quiet where your gold lamp dies, How far can a pomegranate-blossom whisper? ...I will tether my horse to a river willow And wait for the will of the southwest wind.

218
七言律詩
李商隱
無題之五
重帷深下莫愁堂， 臥後清宵細細長。 神女生涯原是夢， 小姑居處本無郎。 風波不信菱枝弱， 月露誰教桂葉香。 直道相思了無益， 未妨惆悵是清狂。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Li Shangyin
TO ONE UNNAMED V
There are many curtains in your care-free house, Where rapture lasts the whole night long. ...What are the lives of angels but dreams If they take no lovers into their rooms? ...Storms are ravishing the nut-horns, Moon- dew sweetening cinnamon-leaves I know well enough naught can come of this union, Yet how it serves to ease my heart!

219
七言律詩
溫庭筠
利洲南渡
澹然空水對斜暉， 曲島蒼茫接翠微。 波上馬嘶看棹去， 柳邊人歇待船歸。 數叢沙草群鷗散， 萬頃江田一鷺飛。 誰解乘舟尋范蠡？ 五湖煙水獨忘機。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Wen Tingyun
NEAR THE LIZHOU FERRY
The sun has set in the water's clear void, And little blue islands are one with the sky. On the bank a horse neighs. A boat goes by. People gather at a willow- clump and wait for the ferry. Down by the sand-bushes sea-gulls are circling, Over the wide river-lands flies an egret. ...Can you guess why I sail, like an ancient wise lover, Through the misty Five Lakes, forgetting words?

220
七言律詩
溫庭筠
蘇武廟
蘇武魂銷漢使前， 古祠高樹兩茫然。 雲邊雁斷胡天月， 隴上羊歸塞草煙。 迴日樓臺非甲帳， 去時冠劍是丁年。 茂陵不見封侯印， 空向秋波哭逝川。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Wen Tingyun
THE TEMPLE OF SU WU
Though our envoy, Su Wu, is gone, body and soul, This temple survives, these trees endure.... Wildgeese through the clouds are still calling to the moon there And hill-sheep unshepherded graze along the border. ...Returning, he found his country changed Since with youthful cap and sword he had left it. His bitter adventures had won him no title.... Autumn-waves endlessly sob in the river.

221
七言律詩
薛逢
宮詞
十二樓中盡曉妝， 望仙樓上望君王。 鎖銜金獸連環冷， 水滴銅龍晝漏長。 雲髻罷梳還對鏡， 羅衣欲換更添香。 遙窺正殿簾開處， 袍褲宮人掃御床。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Xue Feng
A PALACE POEM
In twelve chambers the ladies, decked for the day, Peer afar for their lord from their Fairy-View Lodge; The golden toad guards the lock on the door-chain, And the bronze-dragon water-clock drips through the morning Till one of them, tilting a mirror, combs her cloud of hair And chooses new scent and a change of silk raiment; For she sees, between screen-panels, deep in the palace, Eunuchs in court-dress preparing a bed.

222
七言律詩
秦韜玉
貧女
蓬門未識綺羅香， 擬託良媒益自傷。 誰愛風流高格調， 共憐時世儉梳妝。 敢將十指誇鍼巧， 不把雙眉鬥畫長。 苦恨年年壓金線， 為他人作嫁衣裳。

Seven-character-regular-verse
Qin Taoyu
A POOR GIRL
Living under a thatch roof, never wearing fragrant silk, She longs to arrange a marriage, but how could she dare? Who would know her simple face the loveliest of them all When we choose for worldliness, not for worth? Her fingers embroider beyond compare, But she cannot vie with painted brows; And year after year she has sewn gold thread On bridal robes for other girls.

223
樂府
沈佺期
古意呈補闕喬知之
盧家少婦鬱金香， 海燕雙棲玳瑁梁。 九月寒砧催木葉， 十年征戍憶遼陽。 白狼河北音書斷， 丹鳳城南秋夜長。 誰為含愁獨不見， 更教明月照流黃。
又作獨不見

Folk-song-styled-verse
Shen Quanqi
BEYOND SEEING
A girl of the Lu clan who lives in Golden-Wood Hall, Where swallows perch in pairs on beams of tortoiseshell, Hears the washing-mallets' cold beat shake the leaves down. ...The Liaoyang expedition will be gone ten years, And messages are lost in the White Wolf River. ...Here in the City of the Red Phoenix autumn nights are long, Where one who is heart-sick to see beyond seeing, Sees only moonlight on the yellow-silk wave of her loom.

224
五言絕句
王維
鹿柴
空山不見人， 但聞人語響。 返景入深林， 復照青苔上。

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
DEER-PARK HERMITAGE
There seems to be no one on the empty mountain.... And yet I think I hear a voice, Where sunlight, entering a grove, Shines back to me from the green moss.

225
五言絕句
王維
竹里館
獨坐幽篁裡， 彈琴復長嘯。 深林人不知， 明月來相照。

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
IN A RETREAT AMONG BAMBOOS
Leaning alone in the close bamboos, I am playing my lute and humming a song Too softly for anyone to hear -- Except my comrade, the bright moon.

226
五言絕句
王維
送別
山中相送罷， 日暮掩柴扉。 春草明年綠， 王孫歸不歸。

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
A PARTING
Friend, I have watched you down the mountain Till now in the dark I close my thatch door.... Grasses return again green in the spring, But O my Prince of Friends, do you?

227
五言絕句
王維
相思
紅豆生南國， 春來發幾枝。 願君多采擷， 此物最相思。

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
ONE-HEARTED
When those red berries come in springtime, Flushing on your southland branches, Take home an armful, for my sake, As a symbol of our love.

228
五言絕句
王維
雜詩
君自故鄉來， 應知故鄉事。 來日綺窗前， 寒梅著花未。

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
LINES
You who have come from my old country, Tell me what has happened there ! -- Was the plum, when you passed my silken window, Opening its first cold blossom?

229
五言絕句
裴迪
送崔九
歸山深淺去， 須盡丘壑美。 莫學武陵人， 暫遊桃源裡。

Five-character-quatrain
Pei Di
A FAREWELL TO CUI
Though you think to return to this maze of mountains, Oh, let them brim your heart with wonder!.... Remember the fisherman from Wuling Who had only a day in the Peach-Blossom Country.

230
五言絕句
祖詠
終南望餘雪
終南陰嶺秀， 積雪浮雲端。 林表明霽色， 城中增暮寒。

Five-character-quatrain
Zu Young
ON SEEING THE SNOW-PEAK OF ZHONGNAN
See how Zhongnan Mountain soars With its white top over floating clouds -- And a warm sky opening at the snow-line While the town in the valley grows colder and colder.

231
五言絕句
孟浩然
宿建德江
移舟泊煙渚， 日暮客愁新。 野曠天低樹， 江清月近人。

Five-character-quatrain
Meng Haoran
A NIGHT-MOORING ON THE JIANDE RIVER
While my little boat moves on its mooring of mist, And daylight wanes, old memories begin.... How wide the world was, how close the trees to heaven, And how clear in the water the nearness of the moon!

232
五言絕句
孟浩然
春曉
春眠不覺曉， 處處聞啼鳥。 夜來風雨聲， 花落知多少。

Five-character-quatrain
Meng Haoran
A SPRING MORNING
I awake light-hearted this morning of spring, Everywhere round me the singing of birds -- But now I remember the night, the storm, And I wonder how many blossoms were broken.

233
五言絕句
李白
夜思
床前明月光， 疑是地上霜。 舉頭望明月， 低頭思故鄉。

Five-character-quatrain
Li Bai
IN THE QUIET NIGHT
So bright a gleam on the foot of my bed -- Could there have been a frost already? Lifting myself to look, I found that it was moonlight. Sinking back again, I thought suddenly of home.

234
五言絕句
李白
怨情
美人捲珠簾， 深坐蹙蛾眉。 但見淚痕濕， 不知心恨誰。

Five-character-quatrain
Li Bai
A BITTER LOVE
How beautiful she looks, opening the pearly casement, And how quiet she leans, and how troubled her brow is! You may see the tears now, bright on her cheek, But not the man she so bitterly loves.

235
五言絕句
杜甫
八陣圖
功蓋三分國， 名成八陣圖。 江流石不轉， 遺恨失吞吳。

Five-character-quatrain
Du Fu
THE EIGHT-SIDED FORTRESS
The Three Kingdoms, divided, have been bound by his greatness. The Eight-Sided Fortress is founded on his fame; Beside the changing river, it stands stony as his grief That he never conquered the Kingdom of Wu.

236
五言絕句
王之渙
登鸛雀樓
白日依山盡， 黃河入海流。 欲窮千里目， 更上一層樓。

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Zhihuan
AT HERON LODGE
Mountains cover the white sun, And oceans drain the golden river; But you widen your view three hundred miles By going up one flight of stairs.

237
五言絕句
劉長卿
送靈澈
蒼蒼竹林寺， 杳杳鐘聲晚。 荷笠帶斜陽， 青山獨歸遠。

Five-character-quatrain
Liu Changqing
ON PARTING WITH THE BUDDHIST PILGRIM LING CHE
From the temple, deep in its tender bamboos, Comes the low sound of an evening bell, While the hat of a pilgrim carries the sunset Farther and farther down the green mountain.

238
五言絕句
劉長卿
彈琴
泠泠七絃上， 靜聽松風寒。 古調雖自愛， 今人多不彈。

Five-character-quatrain
Liu Changqing
ON HEARING A LUTE-PLAYER
Your seven strings are like the voice Of a cold wind in the pines, Singing old beloved songs Which no one cares for any more.

239
五言絕句
劉長卿
送上人
孤雲將野鶴， 豈向人間住。 莫買沃洲山， 時人已知處。

Five-character-quatrain
Liu Changqing
FAREWELL TO A BUDDHIST MONK
Can drifting clouds and white storks Be tenants in this world of ours? -- Or you still live on Wuzhou Mountain, Now that people are coming here?

240
五言絕句
韋應物
秋夜寄邱員外
懷君屬秋夜， 散步詠涼天。 空山松子落， 幽人應未眠。

Five-character-quatrain
Wei Yingwu
AN AUTUMN NIGHT MESSAGE TO QIU
As I walk in the cool of the autumn night, Thinking of you, singing my poem, I hear a mountain pine-cone fall.... You also seem to be awake.

241
五言絕句
李端
聽箏
鳴箏金粟柱， 素手玉房前。 欲得周郎顧， 時時誤拂絃。

Five-character-quatrain
Li Duan
ON HEARING HER PLAY THE HARP
Her hands of white jade by a window of snow Are glimmering on a golden-fretted harp -- And to draw the quick eye of Chou Yu, She touches a wrong note now and then.

242
五言絕句
王建
新嫁娘
三日入廚下， 洗手作羹湯。 未諳姑食性， 先遣小姑嘗。

Five-character-quatrain
Wang Jian
A BRIDE
On the third day, taking my place to cook, Washing my hands to make the bridal soup, I decide that not my mother-in-law But my husband's young sister shall have the fiat taste.

243
五言絕句
權德輿
玉臺體
昨夜裙帶解， 今朝蟢子飛。 鉛華不可棄， 莫是□砧歸。

Five-character-quatrain
Quan Deyu
THE JADE DRESSING-TABLE
Last night my girdle came undone, And this morning a luck-beetle flew over my bed. So here are my paints and here are my powders -- And a welcome for my yoke again.

244
五言絕句
柳宗元
江雪
千山鳥飛絕， 萬徑人蹤滅。 孤舟簑笠翁， 獨釣寒江雪。

Five-character-quatrain
Liu Zongyuan
RIVER-SNOW
A hundred mountains and no bird, A thousand paths without a footprint; A little boat, a bamboo cloak, An old man fishing in the cold river-snow.

245
五言絕句
元稹
行宮
寥落古行宮， 宮花寂寞紅。 白頭宮女在， 閒坐說玄宗。

Five-character-quatrain
Yuan Zhen
THE SUMMER PALACE
In the faded old imperial palace, Peonies are red, but no one comes to see them.... The ladies-in-waiting have grown white-haired Debating the pomps of Emperor Xuanzong.

246
五言絕句
白居易
問劉十九
綠螘新醅酒， 紅泥小火爐。 晚來天欲雪， 能飲一杯無。

Five-character-quatrain
Bai Juyi
A SUGGESTION TO MY FRIEND LIU
There's a gleam of green in an old bottle, There's a stir of red in the quiet stove, There's a feeling of snow in the dusk outside -- What about a cup of wine inside?

247
五言絕句
張祜
何滿子
故國三千里， 深宮二十年。 一聲何滿子， 雙淚落君前。

Five-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
SHE SINGS AN OLD SONG
A lady of the palace these twenty years, She has lived here a thousand miles from her home- Yet ask her for this song and, with the first few words of it, See how she tries to hold back her tears.

248
五言絕句
李商隱
登樂遊原
向晚意不適， 驅車登古原。 夕陽無限好， 只是近黃昏。

Five-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
THE LEYOU TOMBS
With twilight shadows in my heart I have driven up among the Leyou Tombs To see the sun, for all his glory, Buried by the coming night.

249
五言絕句
賈島
尋隱者不遇
松下問童子， 言師採藥去。 只在此山中， 雲深不知處。

Five-character-quatrain
Jia Dao
A NOTE LEFT FOR AN ABSENT ECLUSE
When I questioned your pupil, under a pine-tree, "My teacher," he answered, " went for herbs, But toward which corner of the mountain, How can I tell, through all these clouds ?"

250
五言絕句
李頻
渡漢江
嶺外音書絕， 經冬復立春。 近鄉情更怯， 不敢問來人。

Five-character-quatrain
Li Pin
CROSSING THE HAN RIVER
Away from home, I was longing for news Winter after winter, spring after spring. Now, nearing my village, meeting people, I dare not ask a single question.

251
五言絕句
金昌緒
春怨
打起黃鶯兒， 莫教枝上啼。 啼時驚妾夢， 不得到遼西。

Five-character-quatrain
Jin Changzu
A SPRING SIGH
Drive the orioles away, All their music from the trees.... When she dreamed that she went to Liaoxi Camp To join him there, they wakened her

252
五言絕句
西鄙人
哥舒歌
北斗七星高， 哥舒夜帶刀。 至今窺牧馬， 不敢過臨洮。

Five-character-quatrain
Xibiren
GENERAL GE SHU
This constellation, with its seven high stars, Is Ge Shu lifting his sword in the night: And no more barbarians, nor their horses, nor cattle, Dare ford the river boundary.

253
樂府
崔顥
長干行二首之一
君家何處住， 妾住在橫塘。 停船暫借問， 或恐是同鄉。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Cui Hao
A SONG OF CHANGGAN I
"Tell me, where do you live? -- Near here, by the fishing-pool? Let's hold our boats together, let's see If we belong in the same town."

254
樂府
崔顥
長干行二首之二
家臨九江水， 來去九江側。 同是長干人， 生小不相識。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Cui Hao
A SONG OF CHANGGAN II
"Yes, I live here, by the river; I have sailed on it many and many a time. Both of us born in Changgan, you and I! Why haven't we always known each other?"

255
樂府
李白
玉階怨
玉階生白露， 夜久侵羅襪。 卻下水晶簾， 玲瓏望秋月。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SIGH FROM A STAIRCASE OF JADE
Her jade-white staircase is cold with dew; Her silk soles are wet, she lingered there so long.... Behind her closed casement, why is she still waiting, Watching through its crystal pane the glow of the autumn moon?

256
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之一
鷲翎金僕姑， 燕尾繡蝥弧。 獨立揚新令， 千營共一呼。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS I
His golden arrow is tipped with hawk's feathers, His embroidered silk flag has a tail like a swallow. One man, arising, gives a new order To the answering shout of a thousand tents.

257
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之二
林暗草驚風， 將軍夜引弓。 平明尋白羽， 沒在石稜中。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS II
The woods are black and a wind assails the grasses, Yet the general tries night archery -- And next morning he finds his white-plumed arrow Pointed deep in the hard rock.

258
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之三
月黑雁飛高， 單于夜遁逃。 欲將輕騎逐， 大雪滿弓刀。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS III
High in the faint moonlight, wildgeese are soaring. Tartar chieftains are fleeing through the dark -- And we chase them, with horses lightly burdened And a burden of snow on our bows and our swords.

259
樂府
盧綸
塞下曲四首之四
野幕蔽瓊筵， 羌戎賀勞旋。 醉和金甲舞， 雷鼓動山川。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Lu Lun
BORDER-SONGS IV
Let feasting begin in the wild camp! Let bugles cry our victory! Let us drink, let us dance in our golden armour! Let us thunder on rivers and hills with our drums!

260
樂府
李益
江南曲
嫁得瞿塘賈， 朝朝誤妾期。 早知潮有信， 嫁與弄潮兒。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Yi
A SONG OF THE SOUTHERN RIVER
Since I married the merchant of Qutang He has failed each day to keep his word.... Had I thought how regular the tide is, I might rather have chosen a river-boy.

261
七言絕句
賀知章
回鄉偶書
少小離家老大回， 鄉音無改鬢毛衰； 兒童相見不相識， 笑問客從何處來。

Seven-character-quatrain
He Zhizhang
COMING HOME
I left home young. I return old; Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin; And my children, meeting me, do not know me. They smile and say: "Stranger, where do you come from?"

262
七言絕句
張旭
桃花谿
隱隱飛橋隔野煙， 石磯西畔問漁船； 桃花盡日隨流水， 洞在清谿何處邊？
又作溪

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Xu
PEACH-BLOSSOM RIVER
A bridge flies away through a wild mist, Yet here are the rocks and the fisherman's boat. Oh, if only this river of floating peach-petals Might lead me at last to the mythical cave!

263
七言絕句
王維
九月九日憶山東兄弟
獨在異鄉為異客， 每逢佳節倍思親。 遙知兄弟登高處， 遍插茱萸少一人。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Wei
ON THE MOUNTAIN HOLIDAY THINKING OF MY BROTHERS IN SHANDONG
All alone in a foreign land, I am twice as homesick on this day When brothers carry dogwood up the mountain, Each of them a branch-and my branch missing.

264
七言絕句
王昌齡
芙蓉樓送辛漸
寒雨連江夜入吳， 平明送客楚山孤。 洛陽親友如相問， 一片冰心在玉壺。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Changling
AT HIBISCUS INN PARTING WITH XIN JIAN
With this cold night-rain hiding the river, you have come into Wu. In the level dawn, all alone, you will be starting for the mountains of Chu. Answer, if they ask of me at Loyang: "One-hearted as ice in a crystal vase."

265
七言絕句
王昌齡
閨怨
閨中少婦不知愁， 春日凝妝上翠樓。 忽見陌頭楊柳色， 悔教夫婿覓封侯。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Changling
IN HER QUIET WINDOW
Too young to have learned what sorrow means, Attired for spring, she climbs to her high chamber.... The new green of the street-willows is wounding her heart -- Just for a title she sent him to war.

266
七言絕句
王昌齡
春宮曲
昨夜風開露井桃， 未央前殿月輪高。 平陽歌舞新承寵， 簾外春寒賜錦袍。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Changling
A SONG OF THE SPRING PALACE
Last night, while a gust blew peach-petals open And the moon shone high on the Palace Beyond Time, The Emperor gave Pingyang, for her dancing, Brocades against the cold spring-wind.

267
七言絕句
王翰
涼州詞
葡萄美酒夜光杯， 欲飲琵琶馬上催。 醉臥沙場君莫笑， 古來征戰幾人回。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wang Han
A SONG OF LIANGZHOU
They sing, they drain their cups of jade, They strum on horseback their guitars. ...Why laugh when they fall asleep drunk on the sand ? -- How many soldiers ever come home?

268
七言絕句
李白
送孟浩然之廣陵
故人西辭黃鶴樓， 煙花三月下揚州。 孤帆遠影碧空盡， 惟見長江天際流。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Bai
A FAREWELL TO MENG HAORAN ON HIS WAY TO YANGZHOU
You have left me behind, old friend, at the Yellow Crane Terrace, On your way to visit Yangzhou in the misty month of flowers; Your sail, a single shadow, becomes one with the blue sky, Till now I see only the river, on its way to heaven.

269
七言絕句
李白
下江陵
朝辭白帝彩雲間， 千里江陵一日還。 兩岸猿聲啼不住， 輕舟已過萬重山。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Bai
THROUGH THE YANGZI GORGES
From the walls of Baidi high in the coloured dawn To Jiangling by night-fall is three hundred miles, Yet monkeys are still calling on both banks behind me To my boat these ten thousand mountains away.

270
七言絕句
岑參
逢入京使
故園東望路漫漫， 雙袖龍鐘淚不乾。 馬上相逢無紙筆， 憑君傳語報平安。

Seven-character-quatrain
Cen Can
ON MEETING A MESSENGER TO THE CAPITAL
It's a long way home, a long way east. I am old and my sleeve is wet with tears. We meet on horseback. I have no means of writing. Tell them three words: "He is safe."

271
七言絕句
杜甫
江南逢李龜年
岐王宅裡尋常見， 崔九堂前幾度聞。 正是江南好風景， 落花時節又逢君。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Fu
ON MEETING LI GUINIAN DOWN THE RIVER
I met you often when you were visiting princes And when you were playing in noblemen's halls. ...Spring passes.... Far down the river now, I find you alone under falling petals.

272
七言絕句
韋應物
滁州西澗
獨憐幽草澗邊生， 上有黃鸝深樹鳴。 春潮帶雨晚來急， 野渡無人舟自橫。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wei Yingwu
AT CHUZHOU ON THE WESTERN STREAM
Where tender grasses rim the stream And deep boughs trill with mango-birds, On the spring flood of last night's rain The ferry-boat moves as though someone were poling.

273
七言絕句
張繼
楓橋夜泊
月落烏啼霜滿天， 江楓漁火對愁眠。 姑蘇城外寒山寺， 夜半鐘聲到客船。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Ji
A NIGHT-MOORING NEAR MAPLE BRIDGE
While I watch the moon go down, a crow caws through the frost; Under the shadows of maple-trees a fisherman moves with his torch; And I hear, from beyond Suzhou, from the temple on Cold Mountain, Ringing for me, here in my boat, the midnight bell.

274
七言絕句
韓翃
寒食
春城無處不飛花， 寒食東風御柳斜。 日暮漢宮傳蠟燭， 輕煙散入五侯家。

Seven-character-quatrain
Han Hong
AFTER THE DAY OF NO FIRE
Petals of spring fly all through the city From the wind in the willows of the Imperial River. And at dusk, from the palace, candles are given out To light first the mansions of the Five Great Lords.

275
七言絕句
劉方平
月夜
更深月色半人家， 北斗闌干南斗斜。 今夜偏知春氣暖， 蟲聲新透綠窗沙。

Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Fangping
A MOONLIGHT NIGHT
When the moon has coloured half the house, With the North Star at its height and the South Star setting, I can fed the first motions of the warm air of spring In the singing of an insect at my green-silk window.

276
七言絕句
劉方平
春怨
紗窗日落漸黃昏， 金屋無人見淚痕。 寂寞空庭春欲晚， 梨花滿地不開門。

Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Fangping
SPRING HEART-BREAK
With twilight passing her silken window, She weeps alone in her chamber of gold For spring is departing from a desolate garden, And a drift of pear-petals is closing a door.

277
七言絕句
柳中庸
征人怨
歲歲金河復玉關， 朝朝馬策與刀環。 三春白雪歸青塚， 萬里黃河繞黑山。

Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Zhongyong
A TROOPER'S BURDEN
For years, to guard the Jade Pass and the River of Gold, With our hands on our horse-whips and our swordhilts, We have watched the green graves change to snow And the Yellow Stream ring the Black Mountain forever.

278
七言絕句
顧況
宮詞
玉樓天半起笙歌， 風送宮嬪笑語和。 月殿影開聞夜漏， 水晶簾捲近秋河。

Seven-character-quatrain
Gu Kuang
A PALACE POEM
High above, from a jade chamber, songs float half-way to heaven, The palace-girls' gay voices are mingled with the wind -- But now they are still, and you hear a water-clock drip in the Court of the Moon.... They have opened the curtain wide, they are facing the River of Stars.

279
七言絕句
李益
夜上受降城聞笛
回樂峰前沙似雪， 受降城外月如霜。 不知何處吹蘆管， 一夜征人盡望鄉。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Yi
ON HEARING A FLUTE AT NIGHT FROM THE WALL OF SHOUXIANG
The sand below the border-mountain lies like snow, And the moon like frost beyond the city-wall, And someone somewhere, playing a flute, Has made the soldiers homesick all night long.

280
七言絕句
劉禹錫
烏衣巷
朱雀橋邊野草花， 烏衣巷口夕陽斜。 舊時王謝堂前燕， 飛入尋常百姓家。

Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Yuxi
BLACKTAIL ROW
Grass has run wild now by the Bridge of Red-Birds; And swallows' wings, at sunset, in Blacktail Row Where once they visited great homes, Dip among doorways of the poor.

281
七言絕句
劉禹錫
春詞
新妝宜面下朱樓， 深鎖春光一院愁。 行到中庭數花朵， 蜻蜓飛上玉搔頭。

Seven-character-quatrain
Liu Yuxi
A SPRING SONG
In gala robes she comes down from her chamber Into her courtyard, enclosure of spring.... When she tries from the centre to count the flowers, On her hairpin of jade a dragon-fly poises.

282
七言絕句
白居易
後宮詞
淚濕羅巾夢不成， 夜深前殿按歌聲。 紅顏未老恩先斷， 斜倚薰籠坐到明。

Seven-character-quatrain
Bai Juyi
A SONG OF THE PALACE
Her tears are spent, but no dreams come. She can hear the others singing through the night. She has lost his love. Alone with her beauty, She leans till dawn on her incense-pillow.

283
七言絕句
張祜
贈內人
禁門宮樹月痕過， 媚眼惟看宿鷺窠。 斜拔玉釵燈影畔， 剔開紅燄救飛蛾。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
OF ONE IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY
When the moonlight, reaching a tree by the gate, Shows her a quiet bird on its nest, She removes her jade hairpins and sits in the shadow And puts out a flame where a moth was flying.

284
七言絕句
張祜
集靈臺之一
日光斜照集靈台， 紅樹花迎曉露開。 昨夜上皇新授籙， 太真含笑入簾來。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
ON THE TERRACE OF ASSEMBLED ANGELS I
The sun has gone slanting over a lordly roof And red-blossoming branches have leaned toward the dew Since the Emperor last night summoned a new favourite And Lady Yang's bright smile came through the curtains.

285
七言絕句
張祜
集靈臺之二
虢國夫人承主恩， 平明騎馬入宮門。 卻嫌脂粉污顏色， 淡掃蛾眉朝至尊。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
ON THE TERRACE OF ASSEMBLED ANGELS II
The Emperor has sent for Lady Guoguo. In the morning, riding toward the palace-gate, Disdainful of the paint that might have marred her beauty, To meet him she smooths her two moth-tiny eyebrows.

286
七言絕句
張祜
題金陵渡
金陵津渡小山樓， 一宿行人自可愁。 潮落夜江斜月裡， 兩三星火是瓜州。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Hu
AT NANJING FERRY
This one-story inn at Nanjing ferry Is a miserable lodging-place for the night -- But across the dead moon's ebbing tide, Lights from Guazhou beckon on the river.

287
七言絕句
朱慶餘
宮詞
寂寂花時閉院門， 美人相並立瓊軒。 含情欲說宮中事， 鸚鵡前頭不敢言。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhu Qingyu
A SONG OF THE PALACE
Now that the palace-gate has softly closed on its flowers, Ladies file out to their pavilion of jade, Abrim to the lips with imperial gossip But not daring to breathe it with a parrot among them.

288
七言絕句
朱慶餘
近試上張水部
洞房昨夜停紅燭， 待曉堂前拜舅姑。 妝罷低聲問夫婿， 畫眉深淺入時無。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhu Qingyu
ON THE EVE OF GOVERNMENT EXAMINATIONS TO SECRETARY ZHANG
Out go the great red wedding-chamber candles. Tomorrow in state the bride faces your parents. She has finished preparing; she asks of you meekly Whether her eyebrows are painted in fashion.

289
七言絕句
杜牧
將赴吳興登樂遊原
清時有味是無能， 閒愛孤雲靜愛僧。 欲把一麾江海去， 樂遊原上望昭陵。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
I CLIMB TO THE LEYOU TOMBS BEFORE LEAVING FOR WUXING
Even in this good reign, how can I serve? The lone cloud rather, the Buddhist peace.... Once more, before crossing river and sea, I face the great Emperor's mountain-tomb.

290
七言絕句
杜牧
赤壁
折戟沈沙鐵未銷， 自將磨洗認前朝。 東風不與周郎便， 銅雀春深鎖二喬。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
BY THE PURPLE CLIFF
On a part of a spear still unrusted in the sand I have burnished the symbol of an ancient kingdom.... Except for a wind aiding General Zhou Yu, Spring would have sealed both Qiao girls in CopperBird Palace.

291
七言絕句
杜牧
泊秦淮
煙籠寒水月籠沙， 夜泊秦淮近酒家。 商女不知亡國恨， 隔江猶唱後庭花。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
A MOORING ON THE QIN HUAI RIVER
Mist veils the cold stream, and moonlight the sand, As I moor in the shadow of a river-tavern, Where girls, with no thought of a perished kingdom, Gaily echo A Song of Courtyard Flowers.

292
七言絕句
杜牧
寄揚州韓綽判官
青山隱隱水迢迢， 秋盡江南草未凋。 二十四橋明月夜， 玉人何處教吹簫。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
A MESSAGE TO HAN CHO THE YANGZHOU MAGISTRATE
There are faint green mountains and far green waters, And grasses in this river region not yet faded by autumn; And clear in the moon on the Twenty-Four Bridges, Girls white as jade are teaching flute-music.

293
七言絕句
杜牧
遣懷
落魄江湖載酒行， 楚腰纖細掌中輕。 十年一覺揚州夢， 贏得青樓薄倖名。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
A CONFESSION
With my wine-bottle, watching by river and lake For a lady so tiny as to dance on my palm, I awake, after dreaming ten years in Yangzhou, Known as fickle, even in the Street of Blue Houses.

294
七言絕句
杜牧
秋夕
銀燭秋光冷畫屏， 輕羅小扇撲流螢。 天階夜色涼如水， 坐看牽牛織女星。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
IN THE AUTUMN NIGHT
Her candle-light is silvery on her chill bright screen. Her little silk fan is for fireflies.... She lies watching her staircase cold in the moon, And two stars parted by the River of Heaven.

295
七言絕句
杜牧
贈別之一
娉娉嫋嫋十三餘， 豆蔻梢頭二月初。 春風十里揚州路， 卷上珠簾總不如。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
PARTING I
She is slim and supple and not yet fourteen, The young spring-tip of a cardamon-spray. On the Yangzhou Road for three miles in the breeze Every pearl-screen is open. But there's no one like her.

296
七言絕句
杜牧
贈別之二
多情卻似總無情， 唯覺樽前笑不成。 蠟燭有心還惜別， 替人垂淚到天明。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
Parting II
How can a deep love seem deep love, How can it smile, at a farewell feast? Even the candle, feeling our sadness, Weeps, as we do, all night long.

297
七言絕句
杜牧
金谷園
繁華事散逐香塵， 流水無情草自春。 日暮東風怨啼鳥， 落花猶似墜樓人。

Seven-character-quatrain
Du Mu
THE GARDEN OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY
Stories of passion make sweet dust, Calm water, grasses unconcerned. At sunset, when birds cry in the wind, Petals are falling like a girl s robe long ago.

298
七言絕句
李商隱
夜雨寄北
君問歸期未有期， 巴山夜雨漲秋池。 何當共剪西窗燭， 卻話巴山夜雨時。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
NOTE ON A RAINY NIGHT TO A FRIEND IN THE NORTH
You ask me when I am coming. I do not know. I dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night with the rain. Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again, together in your western window? When shall I be hearing your voice again, all night in the rain?

299
七言絕句
李商隱
寄令狐郎中
嵩雲秦樹久離居， 雙鯉迢迢一紙筆。 休問梁園舊賓客， 茂陵秋雨病相如。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
A MESSAGE TO SECRETARY LINGHU
I am far from the clouds of Sung Mountain, a long way from trees in Qin; And I send to you a message carried by two carp: -- Absent this autumn from the Prince's garden, There's a poet at Maoling sick in the rain.

300
七言絕句
李商隱
為有
為有雲屏無限嬌， 鳳城寒盡怕春宵。 無端嫁得金龜婿， 辜負香衾事早朝。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
THERE IS ONLY ONE
There is only one Carved-Cloud, exquisite always- Yet she dreads the spring, blowing cold in the palace, When her husband, a Knight of the Golden Tortoise, Will leave her sweet bed, to be early at court.

301
七言絕句
李商隱
隋宮
乘興南遊不戒嚴， 九重誰省諫書函。 春風舉國裁宮錦， 半作障泥半作帆。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
THE SUI PALACE
When gaily the Emperor toured the south Contrary to every warning, His whole empire cut brocades, Half for wheel-guards, half for sails.

302
七言絕句
李商隱
瑤池
瑤池阿母綺窗開， 黃竹歌聲動地哀。 八駿日行三萬里， 穆王何事不重來。

Seven-character-quatrain
LI SHANGYIN
THE JADE POOL
The Mother of Heaven, in her window by the Jade Pool, Hears The Yellow Bamboo Song shaking the whole earth. Where is Emperor Mu, with his eight horses running Ten thousand miles a day? Why has he never come back?

303
七言絕句
李商隱
嫦娥
雲母屏風燭影深， 長河漸落曉星沈。 嫦娥應悔偷靈藥， 碧海青天夜夜心。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
TO THE MOON GODDESS
Now that a candle-shadow stands on the screen of carven marble And the River of Heaven slants and the morning stars are low, Are you sorry for having stolen the potion that has set you Over purple seas and blue skies, to brood through the long nights?

304
七言絕句
李商隱
賈生
宣室求賢訪逐臣， 賈生才調更無倫。 可憐夜半虛前席， 不問蒼生問鬼神。

Seven-character-quatrain
Li Shangyin
JIASHENG
When the Emperor sought guidance from wise men, from exiles, He found no calmer wisdom than that of young Jia And assigned him the foremost council-seat at midnight, Yet asked him about gods, instead of about people.

305
七言絕句
溫庭筠
瑤瑟怨
冰簟銀床夢不成， 碧天如水夜雲輕。 雁聲遠過瀟湘去， 十二樓中月自明。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wen Tingyun
SHE SIGHS ON HER JADE LUTE
A cool-matted silvery bed; but no dreams.... An evening sky as green as water, shadowed with tender clouds; But far off over the southern rivers the calling of a wildgoose, And here a twelve-story building, lonely under the moon.

306
七言絕句
鄭畋
馬嵬坡
玄宗回馬楊妃死， 雲雨難忘日月新。 終是聖明天子事， 景陽宮井又何人。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zheng Tian
ON MAWEI SLOPE
When the Emperor came back from his ride they had murdered Lady Yang -- That passion unforgettable through all the suns and moons They had led him to forsake her by reminding him Of an emperor slain with his lady once, in a well at Jingyang Palace.

307
七言絕句
韓偓
已涼
碧闌干外繡簾垂， 猩色屏風畫折枝。 八尺龍鬚方錦褥， 已涼天氣未寒時。

Seven-character-quatrain
Han Wu
COOLER WEATHER
Her jade-green alcove curtained thick with silk, Her vermilion screen with its pattern of flowers, Her eight- foot dragon-beard mat and her quilt brocaded in squares Are ready now for nights that are neither warm nor cold.

308
七言絕句
韋莊
金陵圖
江雨霏霏江草齊， 六朝如夢鳥空啼。 無情最是臺城柳， 依舊煙籠十里堤。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wei Zhuang
A NANJING LANDSCAPE
Though a shower bends the river-grass, a bird is singing, While ghosts of the Six Dynasties pass like a dream Around the Forbidden City, under weeping willows Which loom still for three miles along the misty moat.

309
七言絕句
陳陶
隴西行
誓掃匈奴不顧身， 五千貂錦喪胡塵。 可憐無定河邊骨， 猶是深閨夢裡人。

Seven-character-quatrain
Chen Tao
TURKESTAN
Thinking only of their vow that they would crush the Tartars- - On the desert, clad in sable and silk, five thousand of them fell.... But arisen from their crumbling bones on the banks of the river at the border, Dreams of them enter, like men alive, into rooms where their loves lie sleeping.

310
七言絕句
張泌
寄人
別夢依依到謝家， 小廊回合曲闌斜。 多情只有春庭月， 猶為離人照落花。

Seven-character-quatrain
Zhang Bi
A MESSAGE
I go in a dream to the house of Xie Through a zigzag porch with arching rails To a court where the spring moon lights for ever Phantom flowers and a single figure.

311
七言絕句
無名氏
雜詩
盡寒食雨草萋萋， 著麥苗風柳映堤。 等是有家歸未得， 杜鵑休向耳邊啼。

Seven-character-quatrain
Wumingshi
THE DAY OF NO FIRE
As the holiday approaches, and grasses are bright after rain, And the causeway gleams with willows, and wheatfields wave in the wind, We are thinking of our kinsfolk, far away from us. O cuckoo, why do you follow us, why do you call us home?

312
樂府
王維
渭城曲
渭城朝雨浥輕塵， 客舍青青柳色新。 勸君更盡一杯酒， 西出陽關無故人。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG AT WEICHENG
A morning-rain has settled the dust in Weicheng; Willows are green again in the tavern dooryard.... Wait till we empty one more cup -- West of Yang Gate there'll be no old friends.

313
樂府
王維
秋夜曲
桂魄初生秋露微， 輕羅已薄未更衣。 銀箏夜久殷勤弄， 心怯空房不忍歸。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG OF AN AUTUMN NIGHT
Under the crescent moon a light autumn dew Has chilled the robe she will not change -- And she touches a silver lute all night, Afraid to go back to her empty room.

314
樂府
王昌齡
長信怨
奉帚平明金殿開， 且將團扇共徘徊。 玉顏不及寒鴉色， 猶帶昭陽日影來。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Changling
A SIGH IN THE COURT OF PERPETUAL FAITH
She brings a broom at dawn to the Golden Palace doorway And dusts the hall from end to end with her round fan, And, for all her jade-whiteness, she envies a crow Whose cold wings are kindled in the Court of the Bright Sun.

315
樂府
王昌齡
出塞
秦時明月漢時關， 萬里長征人未還。 但使龍城飛將在， 不教胡馬渡陰山。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Changling
OVER THE BORDER
The moon goes back to the time of Qin, the wall to the time of Han, And the road our troops are travelling goes back three hundred miles.... Oh, for the Winged General at the Dragon City -- That never a Tartar horseman might cross the Yin Mountains!

316
樂府
王之渙
出塞
黃河遠上白雲間， 一片孤城萬仞山。 羌笛何須怨楊柳， 春風不度玉門關。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Zhihuan
BEYOND THE BORDER
Where a yellow river climbs to the white clouds, Near the one city-wall among ten-thousand-foot mountains, A Tartar under the willows is lamenting on his flute That spring never blows to him through the Jade Pass

317
樂府
李白
清平調之一
雲想衣裳花想容， 春風拂檻露華濃。 若非群玉山頭見， 會向瑤臺月下逢。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF PURE HAPPINESS I
Her robe is a cloud, her face a flower; Her balcony, glimmering with the bright spring dew, Is either the tip of earth's Jade Mountain Or a moon- edged roof of paradise.

318
樂府
李白
清平調之二
一枝紅豔露凝香， 雲雨巫山枉斷腸。 借問漢宮誰得似， 可憐飛燕倚新妝。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF PURE HAPPINESS II
There's a perfume stealing moist from a shaft of red blossom, And a mist, through the heart, from the magical Hill of Wu- - The palaces of China have never known such beauty- Not even Flying Swallow with all her glittering garments.

319
樂府
李白
清平調之三
名花傾國兩相歡， 常得君王帶笑看。 解釋春風無限恨， 沈香亭北倚闌干。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
A SONG OF PURE HAPPINESS III
Lovely now together, his lady and his flowers Lighten for ever the Emperor's eye, As he listens to the sighing of the far spring wind Where she leans on a railing in the Aloe Pavilion.

320
樂府
杜秋娘
金縷衣
勸君莫惜金縷衣， 勸君惜取少年時。 花開堪折直須折， 莫待無花空折枝。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Du Qiuniang
THE GOLD-THREADED ROBE
Covet not a gold-threaded robe, Cherish only your young days! If a bud open, gather it -- Lest you but wait for an empty bough.