Three Hundred Tang Poems (71-100)

071
七言古詩
白居易
長恨歌
漢皇重色思傾國， 御宇多年求不得。 楊家有女初長成， 養在深閨人未識。 天生麗質難自棄， 一朝選在君王側； 回眸一笑百媚生， 六宮粉黛無顏色。 春寒賜浴華清池， 溫泉水滑洗凝脂； 侍兒扶起嬌無力， 始是新承恩澤時。 雲鬢花顏金步搖， 芙蓉帳暖度春宵； 春宵苦短日高起， 從此君王不早朝。 承歡侍宴無閑暇， 春從春遊夜專夜。 後宮佳麗三千人， 三千寵愛在一身。 金星妝成嬌侍夜， 玉樓宴罷醉和春。 姊妹弟兄皆列士， 可憐光彩生門戶； 遂令天下父母心， 不重生男重生女。 驪宮高處入青雲， 仙樂風飄處處聞； 緩歌慢舞凝絲竹， 盡日君王看不足。 漁陽鼙鼓動地來， 驚破霓裳羽衣曲。 九重城闕煙塵生， 千乘萬騎西南行。 翠華搖搖行復止， 西出都門百餘里。 六軍不發無奈何？ 宛轉蛾眉馬前死。 花鈿委地無人收， 翠翹金雀玉搔頭。 君王掩面救不得， 回看血淚相和流。 黃埃散漫風蕭索， 雲棧縈紆登劍閣。 峨嵋山下少人行， 旌旗無光日色薄。 蜀江水碧蜀山青， 聖主朝朝暮暮情。 行宮見月傷心色， 夜雨聞鈴腸斷聲。 天旋地轉迴龍馭， 到此躊躇不能去。 馬嵬坡下泥土中， 不見玉顏空死處。 君臣相顧盡霑衣， 東望都門信馬歸。 歸來池苑皆依舊， 太液芙蓉未央柳； 芙蓉如面柳如眉， 對此如何不淚垂？ 春風桃李花開日， 秋雨梧桐葉落時。 西宮南內多秋草， 落葉滿階紅不掃。 梨園子弟白髮新， 椒房阿監青娥老。 夕殿螢飛思悄然， 孤燈挑盡未成眠。 遲遲鐘鼓初長夜， 耿耿星河欲曙天。 鴛鴦瓦冷霜華重， 翡翠衾寒誰與共？ 悠悠生死別經年， 魂魄不曾來入夢。 臨邛道士鴻都客， 能以精誠致魂魄； 為感君王輾轉思， 遂教方士殷勤覓。 排空馭氣奔如電， 升天入地求之遍； 上窮碧落下黃泉， 兩處茫茫皆不見。 忽聞海上有仙山， 山在虛無縹緲間； 樓閣玲瓏五雲起， 其中綽約多仙子。 中有一人字太真， 雪膚花貌參差是。 金闕西廂叩玉扃， 轉教小玉報雙成。 聞道漢家天子使， 九華帳裡夢魂驚。 攬衣推枕起徘徊， 珠箔銀屏迤邐開， 雲鬢半偏新睡覺， 花冠不整下堂來。 風吹仙袂飄飄舉， 猶似霓裳羽衣舞； 玉容寂寞淚闌干， 梨花一枝春帶雨。 含情凝睇謝君王， 一別音容兩渺茫。 昭陽殿裡恩愛絕， 蓬萊宮中日月長。 回頭下望人寰處， 不見長安見塵霧。 唯將舊物表深情， 鈿合金釵寄將去。 釵留一股合一扇， 釵擘黃金合分鈿； 但教心似金鈿堅， 天上人間會相見。 臨別殷勤重寄詞， 詞中有誓兩心知。 七月七日長生殿， 夜半無人私語時。 在天願作比翼鳥， 在地願為連理枝。 天長地久有時盡， 此恨綿綿無絕期。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Bai Juyi
A SONG OF UNENDING SORROW
China's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire, Was on the throne for many years, searching, never finding, Till a little child of the Yang clan, hardly even grown, Bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her, But with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed, At last one day was chosen for the imperial household. If she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells, And the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing. ...It was early spring. They bathed her in the FlowerPure Pool, Which warmed and smoothed the creamy-tinted crystal of her skin, And, because of her languor, a maid was lifting her When first the Emperor noticed her and chose her for his bride. The cloud of her hair, petal of her cheek, gold ripples of her crown when she moved, Were sheltered on spring evenings by warm hibiscus curtains; But nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon, And the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings And lavished all his time on her with feasts and revelry, His mistress of the spring, his despot of the night. There were other ladies in his court, three thousand of rare beauty, But his favours to three thousand were concentered in one body. By the time she was dressed in her Golden Chamber, it would be almost evening; And when tables were cleared in the Tower of Jade, she would loiter, slow with wine. Her sisters and her brothers all were given titles; And, because she so illumined and glorified her clan, She brought to every father, every mother through the empire, Happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy. ...High rose Li Palace, entering blue clouds, And far and wide the breezes carried magical notes Of soft song and slow dance, of string and bamboo music. The Emperor's eyes could never gaze on her enough- Till war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth And broke the tunes of The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat. The Forbidden City, the nine-tiered palace, loomed in the dust From thousands of horses and chariots headed southwest. The imperial flag opened the way, now moving and now pausing- - But thirty miles from the capital, beyond the western gate, The men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir Till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth- eyebrows.... Flowery hairpins fell to the ground, no one picked them up, And a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair- bird. The Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face. And later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears Was hidden in a yellow dust blown by a cold wind. ... At the cleft of the Dagger-Tower Trail they crisscrossed through a cloud-line Under Omei Mountain. The last few came. Flags and banners lost their colour in the fading sunlight.... But as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue, So changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days. He stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace. He heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast. And when heaven and earth resumed their round and the dragon car faced home, The Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away From the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried That memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face? Ruler and lords, when eyes would meet, wept upon their coats As they rode, with loose rein, slowly eastward, back to the capital. ...The pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before, The Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows; But a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow -- And what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them? ...Peach-trees and plum-trees blossomed, in the winds of spring; Lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains; The Western and Southern Palaces were littered with late grasses, And the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away. Her Pear-Garden Players became white-haired And the eunuchs thin-eyebrowed in her Court of PepperTrees; Over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight. He would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep. Bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours And the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn, And the porcelain mandarin-ducks on the roof grow thick with morning frost And his covers of kingfisher-blue feel lonelier and colder With the distance between life and death year after year; And yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams. ...At Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven, Able to summon spirits by his concentrated mind. And people were so moved by the Emperor's constant brooding That they besought the Taoist priest to see if he could find her. He opened his way in space and clove the ether like lightning, Up to heaven, under the earth, looking everywhere. Above, he searched the Green Void, below, the Yellow Spring; But he failed, in either place, to find the one he looked for. And then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea, A part of the intangible and incorporeal world, With pavilions and fine towers in the five-coloured air, And of exquisite immortals moving to and fro, And of one among them-whom they called The Ever True- With a face of snow and flowers resembling hers he sought. So he went to the West Hall's gate of gold and knocked at the jasper door And asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect. And the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China, Was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy. She pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep, And opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen. Her cloudy hair-dress hung on one side because of her great haste, And her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace, While a light wind filled her cloak and fluttered with her motion As though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat. And the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face Were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear. But love glowed deep within her eyes when she bade him thank her liege, Whose form and voice had been strange to her ever since their parting -- Since happiness had ended at the Court of the Bright Sun, And moons and dawns had become long in Fairy-Mountain Palace. But when she turned her face and looked down toward the earth And tried to see the capital, there were only fog and dust. So she took out, with emotion, the pledges he had given And, through his envoy, sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin, But kept one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box, Breaking the gold of the hairpin, breaking the shell of the box; "Our souls belong together," she said, " like this gold and this shell -- Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely And she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him Of vows which had been known only to their two hearts: "On the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life, We told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world That we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one, And to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree." Earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end, While this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.

072
七言古詩
白居易
琵琶行并序
元和十年，予左遷九江郡司馬。明年秋，送客 湓浦口，聞船中夜彈琵琶者，聽其音，錚錚然 有京都聲；問其人，本長安倡女，嘗學琵琶於 穆曹二善才。年長色衰，委身為賈人婦。遂命 酒，使快彈數曲，曲罷憫然。自敘少小時歡樂 事，今漂淪憔悴，轉徙於江湖間。予出官二年 恬然自安，感斯人言，是夕，始覺有遷謫意， 因為長句歌以贈之，凡六百一十六言，命曰琵 琶行。
潯言江頭夜送客， 楓葉荻花秋瑟瑟。 主人下馬客在船， 舉酒欲飲無管絃。 醉不成歡慘將別， 別時茫茫江浸月。 忽聞水上琵琶聲， 主人忘歸客不發。 尋聲暗問彈者誰？ 琵琶聲停欲語遲。 移船相近邀相見， 添酒回燈重開宴。 千呼萬喚始出來， 猶抱琵琶半遮面。 轉軸撥絃三兩聲， 未成曲調先有情。 絃絃掩抑聲聲思， 似訴平生不得志。 低眉信手續續彈， 說盡心中無限事。 輕攏慢撚抹復挑， 初為霓裳後六么。 大絃嘈嘈如急雨， 小絃切切如私語。 嘈嘈切切錯雜彈， 大珠小珠落玉盤。 間官鶯語花底滑， 幽咽泉流水下灘。 水泉冷澀絃凝絕， 凝絕不通聲漸歇。 別有幽愁暗恨生， 此時無聲勝有聲。 銀瓶乍破水漿迸， 鐵騎突出刀鎗鳴。 曲終收撥當心畫， 四絃一聲如裂帛。 東船西舫悄無言， 唯見江心秋月白。 沈吟放撥插絃中， 整頓衣裳起斂容。 自言本是京城女， 家在蝦蟆陵下住。 十三學得琵琶成， 名屬教坊第一部。 曲罷曾教善才服， 妝成每被秋娘妒， 五陵年少爭纏頭， 一曲紅綃不知數。 鈿頭銀篦擊節碎， 血色羅裙翻酒汙。 今年歡笑復明年， 秋月春風等閑度。 弟走從軍阿姨死， 暮去朝來顏色故。 門前冷落車馬稀， 老大嫁作商人婦。 商人重利輕別離， 前月浮梁買茶去。 去來江口守空船， 繞船月明江水寒。 夜深忽夢少年事， 夢啼妝淚紅闌干， 我聞琵琶已嘆息， 又聞此語重唧唧。 同是天涯淪落人， 相逢何必曾相識。 我從去年辭帝京， 謫居臥病潯陽城。 潯陽地僻無音樂， 終歲不聞絲竹聲。 住近湓江地低濕， 黃蘆苦竹繞宅生。 其間旦暮聞何物， 杜鵑啼血猿哀鳴。 春江花朝秋月夜， 往往取酒還獨傾。 豈無山歌與村笛？ 嘔啞嘲哳難為聽。 今夜聞君琵琶語， 如聽仙樂耳暫明。 莫辭更坐彈一曲， 為君翻作琵琶行。 感我此言良久立， 卻坐促絃絃轉急。 淒淒不似向前聲， 滿座重聞皆掩泣。 座中泣下誰最多， 江州司馬青衫濕。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Bai Chuyi
THE SONG OF A GUITAR
In the tenth year of Yuanhe I was banished and demoted to be assistant official in Jiujiang. In the summer of the next year I was seeing a friend leave Penpu and heard in the midnight from a neighbouring boat a guitar played in the manner of the capital. Upon inquiry, I found that the player had formerly been a dancing-girl there and in her maturity had been married to a merchant. I invited her to my boat to have her play for us. She told me her story, heyday and then unhappiness. Since my departure from the capital I had not felt sad; but that night, after I left her, I began to realize my banishment. And I wrote this long poem -- six hundred and twelve characters.
I was bidding a guest farewell, at night on the Xunyang River, Where maple-leaves and full-grown rushes rustled in the autumn. I, the host, had dismounted, my guest had boarded his boat, And we raised our cups and wished to drink-but, alas, there was no music. For all we had drunk we felt no joy and were parting from each other, When the river widened mysteriously toward the full moon -- We had heard a sudden sound, a guitar across the water. Host forgot to turn back home, and guest to go his way. We followed where the melody led and asked the player's name. The sound broke off...then reluctantly she answered. We moved our boat near hers, invited her to join us, Summoned more wine and lanterns to recommence our banquet. Yet we called and urged a thousand times before she started toward us, Still hiding half her face from us behind her guitar. ...She turned the tuning-pegs and tested several strings; We could feel what she was feeling, even before she played: Each string a meditation, each note a deep thought, As if she were telling us the ache of her whole life. She knit her brows, flexed her fingers, then began her music, Little by little letting her heart share everything with ours. She brushed the strings, twisted them slow, swept them, plucked them -- First the air of The Rainbow Skirt, then The Six Little Ones. The large strings hummed like rain, The small strings whispered like a secret, Hummed, whispered-and then were intermingled Like a pouring of large and small pearls into a plate of jade. We heard an oriole, liquid, hidden among flowers. We heard a brook bitterly sob along a bank of sand... By the checking of its cold touch, the very string seemed broken As though it could not pass; and the notes, dying away Into a depth of sorrow and concealment of lament, Told even more in silence than they had told in sound.... A silver vase abruptly broke with a gush of water, And out leapt armored horses and weapons that clashed and smote -- And, before she laid her pick down, she ended with one stroke, And all four strings made one sound, as of rending silk There was quiet in the east boat and quiet in the west, And we saw the white autumnal moon enter the river's heart. ...When she had slowly placed the pick back among the strings, She rose and smoothed her clothing and, formal, courteous, Told us how she had spent her girlhood at the capital, Living in her parents' house under the Mount of Toads, And had mastered the guitar at the age of thirteen, With her name recorded first in the class-roll of musicians, Her art the admiration even of experts, Her beauty the envy of all the leading dancers, How noble youths of Wuling had lavishly competed And numberless red rolls of silk been given for one song, And silver combs with shell inlay been snapped by her rhythms, And skirts the colour of blood been spoiled with stains of wine.... Season after season, joy had followed joy, Autumn moons and spring winds had passed without her heeding, Till first her brother left for the war, and then her aunt died, And evenings went and evenings came, and her beauty faded -- With ever fewer chariots and horses at her door; So that finally she gave herself as wife to a merchant Who, prizing money first, careless how he left her, Had gone, a month before, to Fuliang to buy tea. And she had been tending an empty boat at the river's mouth, No company but the bright moon and the cold water. And sometimes in the deep of night she would dream of her triumphs And be wakened from her dreams by the scalding of her tears. Her very first guitar-note had started me sighing; Now, having heard her story, I was sadder still. "We are both unhappy -- to the sky's end. We meet. We understand. What does acquaintance matter? I came, a year ago, away from the capital And am now a sick exile here in Jiujiang -- And so remote is Jiujiang that I have heard no music, Neither string nor bamboo, for a whole year. My quarters, near the River Town, are low and damp, With bitter reeds and yellowed rushes all about the house. And what is to be heard here, morning and evening? -- The bleeding cry of cuckoos, the whimpering of apes. On flowery spring mornings and moonlit autumn nights I have often taken wine up and drunk it all alone, Of course there are the mountain songs and the village pipes, But they are crude and-strident, and grate on my ears. And tonight, when I heard you playing your guitar, I felt as if my hearing were bright with fairymusic. Do not leave us. Come, sit down. Play for us again. And I will write a long song concerning a guitar." ...Moved by what I said, she stood there for a moment, Then sat again to her strings-and they sounded even sadder, Although the tunes were different from those she had played before.... The feasters, all listening, covered their faces. But who of them all was crying the most? This Jiujiang official. My blue sleeve was wet.

073
七言古詩
李商隱
韓碑
元和天子神武姿， 彼何人哉軒與羲， 誓將上雪列聖恥， 坐法宮中朝四夷。 淮西有賊五十載， 封狼生貙貙生羆； 不據山河據平地， 長戈利矛日可麾。 帝得聖相相曰度， 賊斫不死神扶持。 腰懸相印作都統， 陰風慘澹天王旗。 愬武古通作牙爪， 儀曹外郎載筆隨。 行軍司馬智且勇， 十四萬眾猶虎貔。 入蔡縛賊獻太廟。 功無與讓恩不訾。 帝曰汝度功第一， 汝從事愈宜為辭。 愈拜稽首蹈且舞， 金石刻畫臣能為。 古者世稱大手筆， 此事不係於職司。 當仁自古有不讓， 言訖屢頷天子頤。 公退齋戒坐小閣， 濡染大筆何淋漓。 點竄堯典舜典字， 塗改清廟生民詩。 文成破體書在紙， 清晨再拜鋪丹墀。 表曰臣愈昧死上， 詠神聖功書之碑。 碑高三丈字如斗， 負以靈鼇蟠以螭。 句奇語重喻者少， 讒之天子言其私。 長繩百尺拽碑倒。 麤沙大石相磨治。 公之斯文若元氣， 先時已入人肝脾。 湯盤孔鼎有述作， 今無其器存其辭。 嗚呼聖皇及聖相， 相與烜赫流淳熙。 公之斯文不示後， 曷與三五相攀追？ 願書萬本誦萬過， 口角流沫右手胝； 傳之七十有二代， 以為封禪玉檢明堂基。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Shangyin
THE HAN MONUMENT
The Son of Heaven in Yuanhe times was martial as a god And might be likened only to the Emperors Xuan and Xi. He took an oath to reassert the glory of the empire, And tribute was brought to his palace from all four quarters. Western Huai for fifty years had been a bandit country, Wolves becoming lynxes, lynxes becoming bears. They assailed the mountains and rivers, rising from the plains, With their long spears and sharp lances aimed at the Sun. But the Emperor had a wise premier, by the name of Du, Who, guarded by spirits against assassination, Hong at his girdle the seal of state, and accepted chief command, While these savage winds were harrying the flags of the Ruler of Heaven. Generals Suo, Wu, Gu, and Tong became his paws and claws; Civil and military experts brought their writingbrushes, And his recording adviser was wise and resolute. A hundred and forty thousand soldiers, fighting like lions and tigers, Captured the bandit chieftains for the Imperial Temple. So complete a victory was a supreme event; And the Emperor said: "To you, Du, should go the highest honour, And your secretary, Yu, should write a record of it." When Yu had bowed his head, he leapt and danced, saying: "Historical writings on stone and metal are my especial art; And, since I know the finest brush-work of the old masters, My duty in this instance is more than merely official, And I should be at fault if I modestly declined." The Emperor, on hearing this, nodded many times. And Yu retired and fasted and, in a narrow workroom, His great brush thick with ink as with drops of rain, Chose characters like those in the Canons of Yao and Xun, And a style as in the ancient poems Qingmiao and Shengmin. And soon the description was ready, on a sheet of paper. In the morning he laid it, with a bow, on the purple stairs. He memorialized the throne: "I, unworthy, Have dared to record this exploit, for a monument." The tablet was thirty feet high, the characters large as dippers; It was set on a sacred tortoise, its columns flanked with ragons.... The phrases were strange with deep words that few could understand; And jealousy entered and malice and reached the Emperor -- So that a rope a hundred feet long pulled the tablet down And coarse sand and small stones ground away its face. But literature endures, like the universal spirit, And its breath becomes a part of the vitals of all men. The Tang plate, the Confucian tripod, are eternal things, Not because of their forms, but because of their inscriptions.... Sagacious is our sovereign and wise his minister, And high their successes and prosperous their reign; But unless it be recorded by a writing such as this, How may they hope to rival the three and five good rulers? I wish I could write ten thousand copies to read ten thousand times, Till spittle ran from my lips and calluses hardened my fingers, And still could hand them down, through seventy-two generations, As corner-stones for Rooms of Great Deeds on the Sacred Mountains.

074
樂府
高適
燕歌行並序
開元二十六年，客有從御史大夫張公出塞而還者， 作燕歌行以示適，感征戍之事，因而和焉。
漢家煙塵在東北， 漢將辭家破殘賊。 男兒本自重橫行， 天子非常賜顏色。 摐金伐鼓下榆關， 旌旆逶迤碣石間。 校尉羽書飛瀚海， 單于獵火照狼山。 山川蕭條極邊土， 胡騎憑陵雜風雨。 戰士軍前半死生， 美人帳下猶歌舞。 大漠窮秋塞草衰， 孤城落日鬥兵稀。 身當恩遇常輕敵， 力盡關山未解圍。 鐵衣遠戍辛勤久， 玉筋應啼別離後。 少婦城南欲斷腸， 征人薊北空回首。 邊庭飄颻那可度？ 絕域蒼茫更何有？ 殺氣三時作陣雲， 寒聲一夜傳刁斗。 相看白刃血紛紛， 死節從來豈顧勳。 君不見沙場征戰苦？ 至今猶憶李將軍。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Gao Shi
A SONG OF THE YAN COUNTRY
In the sixth year of Kaiyuan, a friend returned from the border and showed me the Yan Song. Moved by what he told me of the expedition, I have written this poem to the same rhymes.
The northeastern border of China was dark with smoke and dust. To repel the savage invaders, our generals, leaving their families, Strode forth together, looking as heroes should look; And having received from the Emperor his most gracious favour, They marched to the beat of gong and drum through the Elm Pass. They circled the Stone Tablet with a line of waving flags, Till their captains over the Sea of Sand were twanging feathered orders. The Tartar chieftain's hunting-fires glimmered along Wolf Mountain, And heights and rivers were cold and bleak there at the outer border; But soon the barbarians' horses were plunging through wind and rain. Half of our men at the front were killed, but the other half are living, And still at the camp beautiful girls dance for them and sing. ...As autumn ends in the grey sand, with the grasses all withered, The few surviving watchers by the lonely wall at sunset, Serving in a good cause, hold life and the foeman lightly. And yet, for all that they have done, Elm Pass is still unsafe. Still at the front, iron armour is worn and battered thin, And here at home food-sticks are made of jade tears. Still in this southern city young wives' hearts are breaking, While soldiers at the northern border vainly look toward home. The fury of the wind cuts our men's advance In a place of death and blue void, with nothingness ahead. Three times a day a cloud of slaughter rises over the camp; And all night long the hour-drums shake their chilly booming, Until white swords can be seen again, spattered with red blood. ...When death becomes a duty, who stops to think of fame? Yet in speaking of the rigours of warfare on the desert We name to this day Li, the great General, who lived long ago.

075
樂府
李頎
古從軍行
白日登山望烽火， 黃昏飲馬傍交河。 行人刁斗風沙暗， 公主琵琶幽怨多。 野雲萬里無城郭， 雨雪紛紛連大漠。 胡雁哀鳴夜夜飛， 胡兒眼淚雙雙落。 聞道玉門猶被遮， 應將性命逐輕車。 年年戰骨埋荒外， 空見葡萄入漢家。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Qi
AN OLD WAR-SONG
Through the bright day up the mountain, we scan the sky for a war-torch; At yellow dusk we water our horses in the boundaryriver; And when the throb of watch-drums hangs in the sandy wind, We hear the guitar of the Chinese Princess telling her endless woe.... Three thousand miles without a town, nothing but camps, Till the heavy sky joins the wide desert in snow. With their plaintive calls, barbarian wildgeese fly from night to night, And children of the Tartars have many tears to shed; But we hear that the Jade Pass is still under siege, And soon we stake our lives upon our light warchariots. Each year we bury in the desert bones unnumbered, Yet we only watch for grape-vines coming into China.

076
樂府
王維
洛陽女兒行
洛陽女兒對門居， 纔可容顏十五餘； 良人玉勒乘驄馬， 侍女金盤膾鯉魚。 畫閣朱樓盡相望， 紅桃綠柳垂簷向。 羅帷送上七香車， 寶扇迎歸九華帳。 狂夫富貴在青春， 意氣驕奢劇季倫。 自憐碧玉親教舞， 不惜珊瑚持與人。 春窗曙滅九微火， 九微片片飛花璅。 戲罷曾無理曲時， 妝成祇是薰香坐。 城中相識盡繁華， 日夜經過趙李家。 誰憐越女顏如玉？ 貧賤江頭自浣紗。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG OF A GIRL FROM LOYANG
There's a girl from Loyang in the door across the street, She looks fifteen, she may be a little older. ...While her master rides his rapid horse with jade bit an bridle, Her handmaid brings her cod-fish in a golden plate. On her painted pavilions, facing red towers, Cornices are pink and green with peach-bloom and with willow, Canopies of silk awn her seven-scented chair, And rare fans shade her, home to her nine-flowered curtains. Her lord, with rank and wealth and in the bud of life, Exceeds in munificence the richest men of old. He favours this girl of lowly birth, he has her taught to dance; And he gives away his coral-trees to almost anyone. The wind of dawn just stirs when his nine soft lights go out, Those nine soft lights like petals in a flying chain of flowers. Between dances she has barely time for singing over the songs; No sooner is she dressed again than incense burns before her. Those she knows in town are only the rich and the lavish, And day and night she is visiting the hosts of the gayest mansions. ...Who notices the girl from Yue with a face of white jade, Humble, poor, alone, by the river, washing silk?

077
樂府
王維
老將行
少年十五二十時， 步行奪得胡馬騎。 射殺山中白額虎， 肯數鄴下黃鬚兒。 一身轉戰三千里， 一劍曾當百萬師。 漢兵奮迅如霹靂， 虜騎崩騰畏蒺藜。 衛青不敗由天幸， 李廣無功緣數奇。 自從棄置便衰朽， 世事蹉跎成白首。 昔時飛箭無全目， 今日垂楊生左肘。 路旁時賣故侯瓜， 門前學種先生柳。 蒼茫古木連窮巷， 寥落寒山對虛牖。 誓令疏勒出飛泉， 不似潁川空使酒。 賀蘭山下陣如雲， 羽檄交馳日夕聞。 節使三河募年少， 詔書五道出將軍。 試拂鐵衣如雪色， 聊持寶劍動星文。 願得燕弓射大將， 恥令越甲鳴吾君。 莫嫌舊日雲中守， 猶堪一戰取功勳。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
SONG OF AN OLD GENERAL
When he was a youth of fifteen or twenty, He chased a wild horse, he caught him and rode him, He shot the white-browed mountain tiger, He defied the yellow-bristled Horseman of Ye. Fighting single- handed for a thousand miles, With his naked dagger he could hold a multitude. ...Granted that the troops of China were as swift as heaven's thunder And that Tartar soldiers perished in pitfalls fanged with iron, General Wei Qing's victory was only a thing of chance. And General Li Guang's thwarted effort was his fate, not his fault. Since this man's retirement he is looking old and worn: Experience of the world has hastened his white hairs. Though once his quick dart never missed the right eye of a bird, Now knotted veins and tendons make his left arm like an osier. He is sometimes at the road-side selling melons from his garden, He is sometimes planting willows round his hermitage. His lonely lane is shut away by a dense grove, His vacant window looks upon the far cold mountains But, if he prayed, the waters would come gushing for his men And never would he wanton his cause away with wine. ...War-clouds are spreading, under the Helan Range; Back and forth, day and night, go feathered messages; In the three River Provinces, the governors call young men -- And five imperial edicts have summoned the old general. So he dusts his iron coat and shines it like snow- Waves his dagger from its jade hilt in a dance of starry steel. He is ready with his strong northern bow to smite the Tartar chieftain -- That never a foreign war-dress may affront the Emperor. ...There once was an aged Prefect, forgotten and far away, Who still could manage triumph with a single stroke.

078
樂府
王維
桃源行
漁舟逐水愛山春， 兩岸桃花夾古津。 坐看紅樹不知遠， 行盡青溪不見人。 山口潛行始隈隩， 山開曠望旋平陸。 遙看一處攢雲樹， 近入千家散花竹。 樵客初傳漢姓名， 居人未改秦衣服。 居人共住武陵源， 還從物外起田園。 月明松下房櫳靜， 日出雲中雞犬喧。 驚聞俗客爭來集， 競引還家問都邑。 平明閭巷掃花開， 薄暮漁樵乘水入。 初因避地去人間， 及至成仙遂不還。 峽裡誰知有人事， 世中遙望空雲山。 不疑靈境難聞見， 塵心未盡思鄉縣。 出洞無論隔山水， 辭家終擬長游衍。 自謂經過舊不迷， 安知峰壑今來變。 當時只記入山深， 青溪幾曲到雲林？ 春來遍是桃花水， 不辨仙源何處尋？

Folk-song-styled-verse
Wang Wei
A SONG OF PEACH-BLOSSOM RIVER
A fisherman is drifting, enjoying the spring mountains, And the peach-trees on both banks lead him to an ancient source. Watching the fresh-coloured trees, he never thinks of distance Till he comes to the end of the blue stream and suddenly- strange men! It's a cave-with a mouth so narrow that he has to crawl through; But then it opens wide again on a broad and level path -- And far beyond he faces clouds crowning a reach of trees, And thousands of houses shadowed round with flowers and bamboos.... Woodsmen tell him their names in the ancient speech of Han; And clothes of the Qin Dynasty are worn by all these people Living on the uplands, above the Wuling River, On farms and in gardens that are like a world apart, Their dwellings at peace under pines in the clear moon, Until sunrise fills the low sky with crowing and barking. ...At news of a stranger the people all assemble, And each of them invites him home and asks him where he was born. Alleys and paths are cleared for him of petals in the morning, And fishermen and farmers bring him their loads at dusk.... They had left the world long ago, they had come here seeking refuge; They have lived like angels ever since, blessedly far away, No one in the cave knowing anything outside, Outsiders viewing only empty mountains and thick clouds. ...The fisherman, unaware of his great good fortune, Begins to think of country, of home, of worldly ties, Finds his way out of the cave again, past mountains and past rivers, Intending some time to return, when he has told his kin. He studies every step he takes, fixes it well in mind, And forgets that cliffs and peaks may vary their appearance. ...It is certain that to enter through the deepness of the mountain, A green river leads you, into a misty wood. But now, with spring-floods everywhere and floating peachpetals -- Which is the way to go, to find that hidden source?

079
樂府
李白
蜀道難
噫吁戲， 危乎高哉！ 蜀道之難難於上青天！ 蠶叢及魚鳧， 開國何茫然。 爾來四萬八千歲， 始與秦塞通人煙。 西當太白有鳥道， 可以橫絕峨眉巔。 地崩山摧壯士死， 然後天梯石棧方鉤連。 上有六龍回日之高標， 下有衝波逆折之迴川。 黃鶴之飛尚不得， 猿猱欲度愁攀援。 青泥何盤盤， 百步九折縈巖巒， 捫參歷井仰脅息， 以手撫膺坐長歎。 問君西遊何時還？ 畏途巉巖不可攀。 但見悲鳥號古木， 雄飛雌從繞林間； 又聞子規啼， 夜月愁空山。 蜀道之難難於上青天！ 使人聽此凋朱顏。 連峰去天不盈尺， 枯松倒掛倚絕壁。 飛湍瀑流爭喧豗， 砯崖轉石萬壑雷。 其險也如此！ 嗟爾遠道之人， 胡為乎來哉？ 劍閣崢嶸而崔嵬， 一夫當關， 萬夫莫開； 所守或匪親， 化為狼與豺， 朝避猛虎， 夕避長蛇， 磨牙吮血， 殺人如麻。 錦城雖云樂， 不如早還家。 蜀道之難難於上青天， 側身西望常咨嗟。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
HARD ROADS IN SHU
Oh, but it is high and very dangerous! Such travelling is harder than scaling the blue sky. ...Until two rulers of this region Pushed their way through in the misty ages, Forty-eight thousand years had passed With nobody arriving across the Qin border. And the Great White Mountain, westward, still has only a bird's path Up to the summit of Emei Peak -- Which was broken once by an earthquake and there were brave men lost, Just finishing the stone rungs of their ladder toward heaven. ...High, as on a tall flag, six dragons drive the sun, While the river, far below, lashes its twisted course. Such height would be hard going for even a yellow crane, So pity the poor monkeys who have only paws to use. The Mountain of Green Clay is formed of many circles- Each hundred steps, we have to turn nine turns among its mound -- Panting, we brush Orion and pass the Well Star, Then, holding our chests with our hands and sinking to the ground with a groan, We wonder if this westward trail will never have an end. The formidable path ahead grows darker, darker still, With nothing heard but the call of birds hemmed in by the ancient forest, Male birds smoothly wheeling, following the females; And there come to us the melancholy voices of the cuckoos Out on the empty mountain, under the lonely moon.... Such travelling is harder than scaling the blue sky. Even to hear of it turns the cheek pale, With the highest crag barely a foot below heaven. Dry pines hang, head down, from the face of the cliffs, And a thousand plunging cataracts outroar one another And send through ten thousand valleys a thunder of spinning stones. With all this danger upon danger, Why do people come here who live at a safe distance? ...Though Dagger-Tower Pass be firm and grim, And while one man guards it Ten thousand cannot force it, What if he be not loyal, But a wolf toward his fellows? ...There are ravenous tigers to fear in the day And venomous reptiles in the night With their teeth and their fangs ready To cut people down like hemp. Though the City of Silk be delectable, I would rather turn home quickly. Such travelling is harder than scaling the blue sky.... But I still face westward with a dreary moan.

080
樂府
李白
長相思之一
長相思， 在長安。 絡緯秋啼金井闌， 微霜淒淒簟色寒。 孤燈不明思欲絕， 卷帷望月空長歎。 美人如花隔雲端， 上有青冥之長天， 下有淥水之波瀾。 天長路遠魂飛苦， 夢魂不到關山難。 長相思， 摧心肝。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
ENDLESS YEARNING I
"I am endlessly yearning To be in Changan. ...Insects hum of autumn by the gold brim of the well; A thin frost glistens like little mirrors on my cold mat; The high lantern flickers; and. deeper grows my longing. I lift the shade and, with many a sigh, gaze upon the moon, Single as a flower, centred from the clouds. Above, I see the blueness and deepness of sky. Below, I see the greenness and the restlessness of water.... Heaven is high, earth wide; bitter between them flies my sorrow. Can I dream through the gateway, over the mountain? Endless longing Breaks my heart."

081
樂府
李白
長相思之二
日色已盡花含煙， 月明欲素愁不眠。 趙瑟初停鳳凰柱， 蜀琴欲奏鴛鴦絃。 此曲有意無人傳， 願隨春風寄燕然。 憶君迢迢隔青天， 昔日橫波目， 今成流淚泉。 不信妾腸斷， 歸來看取明鏡前。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
ENDLESS YEARNING II
"The sun has set, and a mist is in the flowers; And the moon grows very white and people sad and sleepless. A Zhao harp has just been laid mute on its phoenix holder, And a Shu lute begins to sound its mandarin-duck strings.... Since nobody can bear to you the burden of my song, Would that it might follow the spring wind to Yanran Mountain. I think of you far away, beyond the blue sky, And my eyes that once were sparkling Are now a well of tears. ...Oh, if ever you should doubt this aching of my heart, Here in my bright mirror come back and look at me!"

082
樂府
李白
行路難之一
金樽清酒斗十千， 玉盤珍羞值萬錢。 停杯投箸不能食， 拔劍四顧心茫然。 欲渡黃河冰塞川， 將登太行雪暗天。 閑來垂釣碧溪上， 忽復乘舟夢日邊。 行路難！ 行路難！ 多歧路， 今安在？ 長風破浪會有時， 直挂雲帆濟滄海。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
THE HARD ROAD
Pure wine costs, for the golden cup, ten thousand coppers a flagon, And a jade plate of dainty food calls for a million coins. I fling aside my food-sticks and cup, I cannot eat nor drink.... I pull out my dagger, I peer four ways in vain. I would cross the Yellow River, but ice chokes the ferry; I would climb the Taihang Mountains, but the sky is blind with snow.... I would sit and poise a fishing-pole, lazy by a brook -- But I suddenly dream of riding a boat, sailing for the sun.... Journeying is hard, Journeying is hard. There are many turnings -- Which am I to follow?.... I will mount a long wind some day and break the heavy waves And set my cloudy sail straight and bridge the deep, deep sea.

083
樂府
李白
行路難之二
大道如青天， 我獨不得出。 羞逐長安社中兒， 赤雞白狗賭梨栗。 彈劍作歌奏苦聲， 曳裾王門不稱情。 淮陰市井笑韓信， 漢朝公卿忌賈生。 君不見， 昔時燕家重郭隗， 擁篲折節無嫌猜； 劇辛樂毅感恩分， 輸肝剖膽效英才。 昭王白骨縈蔓草， 誰人更掃黃金臺？ 行路難， 歸去來？

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
HARD IS THE WAY OF THE WORLD II
The way is broad like the blue sky, But no way out before my eye. I am ashamed to follow those who have no guts, Gambling on fighting cocks and dogs for pears and nuts. Feng would go homeward way, having no fish to eat; Zhou did not think to bow to noblemen was meet. General Han was mocked in the market-place; The brilliant scholar Jia was banished in disgrace. Have you not heard of King of Yan in days gone by, Who venerated talents and built Terrace high On which he offered gold to gifted men And stooped low and swept the floor to welcome them? Grateful, Ju Xin and Yue Yi came then And served him heart and soul, both full of stratagem. The King's bones were now buried, who would sweep the floor of the Gold Terrace any more? Hard is the way. Go back without delay!

084
樂府
李白
行路難之三
有耳莫洗潁川水， 有口莫食首陽蕨。 含光混世貴無名， 何用孤高比雲月？ 吾觀自古賢達人， 功成不退皆殞身。 子胥既棄吳江上， 屈原終投湘水濱。 陸機雄才豈自保？ 李斯稅駕苦不早。 華亭鶴唳詎可聞？ 上蔡蒼鷹何足道。 君不見， 吳中張翰稱達生， 秋風忽憶江東行。 且樂生前一杯酒， 何須身後千載名？

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
HARD IS THE WAY OF THE WORLD III
Don't wash your ears on hearing something you dislike Nor die of hunger like famous hermits on the Pike! Living without a fame among the motley crowd, Why should one be as lofty as the moon or cloud? Of ancient talents who failed to retire, there's none But came to tragic ending after glory's won. The head of General Wu was hung o'er city gate; In the river was drowned the poet laureate. The highly talented scholar wished in vain To preserve his life to hear the cry of the crane. Minister Li regretted not to have retired To hunt with falcon gray as he had long desired. Have you not heard of Zhang Han who resigned, carefree, To go home to eat his perch with high glee? Enjoy a cup of wine while you're alive! Do not care if your fame will not survive!

085
樂府
李白
將進酒
君不見， 黃河之水天上來， 奔流到海不復回？ 君不見， 高堂明鏡悲白髮， 朝如青絲暮成雪？ 人生得意須盡歡， 莫使金樽空對月， 天生我材必有用， 千金散盡還復來。 烹羊宰牛且為樂， 會須一飲三百杯。 岑夫子！ 丹丘生！ 將進酒； 君莫停。 與君歌一曲， 請君為我側耳聽。 鐘鼓饌玉不足貴， 但願長醉不願醒。 古來聖賢皆寂寞， 惟有飲者留其名。 陳王昔時宴平樂， 斗酒十千恣讙謔。 主人何為言少錢？ 徑須沽取對君酌。 五花馬， 千金裘。 呼兒將出換美酒， 與爾同消萬古愁。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Li Bai
BRINGING IN THE WINE
See how the Yellow River's waters move out of heaven. Entering the ocean, never to return. See how lovely locks in bright mirrors in high chambers, Though silken-black at morning, have changed by night to snow. ...Oh, let a man of spirit venture where he pleases And never tip his golden cup empty toward the moon! Since heaven gave the talent, let it be employed! Spin a thousand pieces of silver, all of them come back! Cook a sheep, kill a cow, whet the appetite, And make me, of three hundred bowls, one long drink! ...To the old master, Cen, And the young scholar, Danqiu, Bring in the wine! Let your cups never rest! Let me sing you a song! Let your ears attend! What are bell and drum, rare dishes and treasure? Let me be forever drunk and never come to reason! Sober men of olden days and sages are forgotten, And only the great drinkers are famous for all time. ...Prince Chen paid at a banquet in the Palace of Perfection Ten thousand coins for a cask of wine, with many a laugh and quip. Why say, my host, that your money is gone? Go and buy wine and we'll drink it together! My flower-dappled horse, My furs worth a thousand, Hand them to the boy to exchange for good wine, And we'll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations!

086
樂府
杜甫
兵車行
車轔轔， 馬蕭蕭， 行人弓箭各在腰。 耶孃妻子走相送， 塵埃不見咸陽橋。 牽衣頓足攔道哭， 哭聲直上干雲霄。 道旁過者問行人， 行人但云點行頻。 或從十五北防河， 便至四十西營田。 去時里正與裹頭， 歸來頭白還戍邊。 邊亭流血成海水， 武皇開邊意未已。 君不聞， 漢家山東二百州， 千村萬落生荊杞？ 縱有健婦把鋤犁， 禾生隴畝無東西。 況復秦兵耐苦戰， 被驅不異犬與雞。 長者雖有問， 役夫敢申恨； 且如今年冬， 未休關西卒。 縣官急索租， 租稅從何出？ 信知生男惡， 反是生女好； 生女猶得嫁比鄰， 生男埋沒隨百草。 君不見， 青海頭， 古來白骨無人收？ 新鬼煩冤舊鬼哭， 天陰雨濕聲啾啾。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Du Fu
A SONG OF WAR-CHARIOTS
The war-chariots rattle, The war-horses whinny. Each man of you has a bow and a quiver at his belt. Father, mother, son, wife, stare at you going, Till dust shall have buried the bridge beyond Changan. They run with you, crying, they tug at your sleeves, And the sound of their sorrow goes up to the clouds; And every time a bystander asks you a question, You can only say to him that you have to go. ...We remember others at fifteen sent north to guard the river And at forty sent west to cultivate the campfarms. The mayor wound their turbans for them when they started out. With their turbaned hair white now, they are still at the border, At the border where the blood of men spills like the sea -- And still the heart of Emperor Wu is beating for war. ...Do you know that, east of China's mountains, in two hundred districts And in thousands of villages, nothing grows but weeds, And though strong women have bent to the ploughing, East and west the furrows all are broken down? ...Men of China are able to face the stiffest battle, But their officers drive them like chickens and dogs. Whatever is asked of them, Dare they complain? For example, this winter Held west of the gate, Challenged for taxes, How could they pay? ...We have learned that to have a son is bad luck- It is very much better to have a daughter Who can marry and live in the house of a neighbour, While under the sod we bury our boys. ...Go to the Blue Sea, look along the shore At all the old white bones forsaken -- New ghosts are wailing there now with the old, Loudest in the dark sky of a stormy day.

087
樂府
杜甫
麗人行
三月三日天氣新， 長安水邊多麗人。 態濃意遠淑且真， 肌理細膩骨肉勻。 繡羅衣裳照暮春， 蹙金孔雀銀麒麟。 頭上何所有？ 翠微盍葉垂鬢唇。 背後何所見？ 珠壓腰衱穩稱身。 就中雲幕椒房親， 賜名大國虢與秦。 紫駝之峰出翠釜， 水精之盤行素鱗。 犀箸饜飫久未下， 鸞刀縷切空紛綸。 黃門飛鞚不動塵， 御廚絡繹送八珍。 簫鼓哀吟感鬼神， 賓從雜遝實要津。 後來鞍馬何逡巡？ 當軒下馬入錦茵。 楊花雪落覆白蘋， 青鳥飛去銜紅巾。 炙手可熱勢絕倫， 慎莫近前丞相嗔。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Du Fu
A SONG OF FAIR WOMEN
On the third day of the Third-month in the freshening weather Many beauties take the air by the Changan waterfront, Receptive, aloof, sweet-mannered, sincere, With soft fine skin and well-balanced bone. Their embroidered silk robes in the spring sun are gleaming -- With a mass of golden peacocks and silver unicorns. And hanging far down from their temples Are blue leaves of delicate kingfisher feathers. And following behind them Is a pearl-laden train, rhythmic with bearers. Some of them are kindred to the Royal House -- The titled Princesses Guo and Qin. Red camel-humps are brought them from jade broilers, And sweet fish is ordered them on crystal trays. Though their food-sticks of unicorn-horn are lifted languidly And the finely wrought phoenix carving-knife is very little used, Fleet horses from the Yellow Gate, stirring no dust, Bring precious dishes constantly from the imperial kitchen. ...While a solemn sound of flutes and drums invokes gods and spirits, Guests and courtiers gather, all of high rank; And finally, riding slow, a dignified horseman Dismounts at the pavilion on an embroidered rug. In a snow of flying willow-cotton whitening the duckweed, Bluebirds find their way with vermilion handkerchiefs -- But power can be as hot as flame and burn people's fingers. Be wary of the Premier, watch for his frown.

088
樂府
杜甫
哀江頭
少陵野老吞生哭， 春日潛行曲江曲； 江頭宮殿鎖千門， 細柳新蒲為誰綠？ 憶昔霓旌下南苑； 苑中景物生顏色。 昭陽殿裡第一人， 同輦隨君侍君側。 輦前才人帶弓箭， 白馬嚼齧黃金勒。 翻身向天仰射雲， 一箭正墜雙飛翼。 明眸皓齒今何在？ 血污遊魂歸不得。 清渭東流劍閣深， 去住彼此無消息。 人生有情淚沾臆， 江水江花豈終極？ 黃昏胡騎塵滿城， 欲往城南望城北。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Du Fu
A SONG OF SOBBING BY THE RIVER
I am only an old woodsman, whispering a sob, As I steal like a spring-shadow down the Winding River. ...Since the palaces ashore are sealed by a thousand gates -- Fine willows, new rushes, for whom are you so green? ...I remember a cloud of flags that came from the South Garden, And ten thousand colours, heightening one another, And the Kingdom's first Lady, from the Palace of the Bright Sun, Attendant on the Emperor in his royal chariot, And the horsemen before them, each with bow and arrows, And the snowy horses, champing at bits of yellow gold, And an archer, breast skyward, shooting through the clouds And felling with one dart a pair of flying birds. ...Where are those perfect eyes, where are those pearly teeth? A blood-stained spirit has no home, has nowhere to return. And clear Wei waters running east, through the cleft on Dagger- Tower Trail, Carry neither there nor here any news of her. People, compassionate, are wishing with tears That she were as eternal as the river and the flowers. ...Mounted Tartars, in the yellow twilight, cloud the town with dust. I am fleeing south, but I linger-gazing northward toward the throne.

089
樂府
杜甫
哀王孫
長安城頭頭白烏， 夜飛延秋門上呼； 又向人家啄大屋， 屋底達官走避胡。 金鞭斷折九馬死， 骨肉不待同馳驅。 腰下寶玦青珊瑚， 問之不肯道姓名， 但道困苦乞為奴。 已經百日竄荊棘， 身上無有完肌膚。 高帝子孫盡隆準， 龍種自與常人殊。 豺狼在邑龍在野， 王孫善保千金軀。 不敢長語臨交衢， 且為王孫立斯須。 昨夜東風吹血腥， 東來橐駝滿舊都。 朔方健兒好身手， 昔何勇銳今何愚？ 竊聞天子已傳位， 聖德北服南單于。 花門剺面請雪恥， 慎勿出口他人狙。 哀哉王孫慎勿疏， 五陵佳氣無時無。

Folk-song-styled-verse
Du Fu
A SONG OF A PRINCE DEPOSED
Along the wall of the Capital a white-headed crow Flies to the Gate where Autumn Enters and screams there in the night, Then turns again and pecks among the roofs of a tall mansion Whose lord, a mighty mandarin, has fled before the Tartars, With his golden whip now broken, his nine war-horses dead And his own flesh and bone scattered to the winds.... There's a rare ring of green coral underneath the vest Of a Prince at a street-corner, bitterly sobbing, Who has to give a false name to anyone who asks him- Just a poor fellow, hoping for employment. A hundred days' hiding in grasses and thorns Show on his body from head to foot. But, since their first Emperor, all with hooknoses, These Dragons look different from ordinary men. Wolves are in the palace now and Dragons are lost in the desert -- O Prince, be very careful of your most sacred person! I dare not address you long, here by the open road, Nor even to stand beside you for more than these few moments. Last night with the spring-wind there came a smell of blood; The old Capital is full of camels from the east. Our northern warriors are sound enough of body and of hand -- Oh, why so brave in olden times and so craven now? Our Emperor, we hear, has given his son the throne And the southern border-chieftains are loyally inclined And the Huamen and Limian tribes are gathering to avenge us. But still be careful-keep yourself well hidden from the dagger. Unhappy Prince, I beg you, be constantly on guard -- Till power blow to your aid from the Five Imperial Tombs.

090
五言律詩
唐玄宗
經鄒魯祭孔子而歎之
夫子何為者， 栖栖一代中。 地猶鄹氏邑， 宅即魯王宮。 歎鳳嗟身否， 傷麟怨道窮。 今看兩楹奠， 當與夢時同。

Five-character-regular-verse
Tang Xunzong
I PASS THROUGH THE LU DUKEDOM WITH A SIGH AND A SACRIFICE FOR CONFUCIUS
O Master, how did the world repay Your life of long solicitude? -- The Lords of Zou have misprized your land, And your home has been used as the palace of Lu.... You foretold that when phoenixes vanished, your fortunes too would end, You knew that the captured unicorn would be a sign of the dose of your teaching.... Can this sacrifice I watch, here between two temple pillars, Be the selfsame omen of death you dreamed of long ago?

091
五言律詩
張九齡
望月懷遠
海上生明月， 天涯共此時。 情人怨遙夜， 竟夕起相思。 滅燭憐光滿， 披衣覺露滋。 不堪盈手贈， 還寢夢佳期。

Five-character-regular-verse
Zhang Jiuling
LOOKING AT THE MOON AND THINKING OF ONE FAR AWAY
The moon, grown full now over the sea, Brightening the whole of heaven, Brings to separated hearts The long thoughtfulness of night.... It is no darker though I blow out my candle. It is no warmer though I put on my coat. So I leave my message with the moon And turn to my bed, hoping for dreams.

092
五言律詩
王勃
送杜少府之任蜀州
城闕輔三秦， 風煙望五津。 與君離別意， 同是宦遊人。 海內存知己， 天涯若比鄰。 無為在歧路， 兒女共沾巾。

Five-character-regular-verse
Wang Bo
FAREWELL TO VICE-PREFECT DU SETTING OUT FOR HIS OFFICIAL POST IN SHU
By this wall that surrounds the three Qin districts, Through a mist that makes five rivers one, We bid each other a sad farewell, We two officials going opposite ways.... And yet, while China holds our friendship, And heaven remains our neighbourhood, Why should you linger at the fork of the road, Wiping your eyes like a heart-broken child?

093
五言律詩
駱賓王
在獄詠蟬并序
余禁所禁垣西，是法廳事也。有古槐數株焉，雖生 意可知，同殷仲文之古樹，而聽訟斯在，即周召伯 之甘棠。每至夕照低陰，秋蟬疏引，發聲幽息，有 切嘗聞；豈人心異於曩時，將蟲響悲於前聽？嗟乎 ！聲以動容，德以象賢，故潔其身也，稟君子達人 之高行；蛻其皮也，有仙都羽化之靈姿。候時而來 ，順陰陽之數；應節為變，審藏用之機。有目斯開 ，不以道昏而昧其視；有翼自薄，不以俗厚而易其 真。吟喬樹之微風，韻資天縱；飲高秋之墜露，清 畏人知。僕失路艱虞，遭時徽纆，不哀傷而自怨， 未搖落而先衰。聞蟪蛄之流聲，悟平反之已奏；見 螳螂之抱影，怯危機之未安。感而綴詩，貽諸知己 。庶情沿物應，哀弱羽之飄零；道寄人知，憫餘聲 之寂寞。非謂文墨，取代幽憂云爾。
西路蟬聲唱， 南冠客思侵。 那堪玄鬢影， 來對白頭吟。 露重飛難進， 風多響易沉。 無人信高潔， 誰為表予心。

Five-character-regular-verse
Lo Bingwang
A POLITICAL PRISONER LISTENING TO A CICADA
While the year sinks westward, I hear a cicada Bid me to be resolute here in my cell, Yet it needed the song of those black wings To break a white-haired prisoner's heart.... His flight is heavy through the fog, His pure voice drowns in the windy world. Who knows if he be singing still? - -Who listens any more to me?

094
五言律詩
杜審言
和晉陵路丞早春遊望
獨有宦遊人， 偏驚物候新。 雲霞出海曙， 梅柳渡江春。 淑氣催黃鳥， 晴光轉綠蘋。 忽聞歌古調， 歸思欲霑巾。

Five-character-regular-verse
Du Shenyan
ON A WALK IN THE EARLY SPRINGHARMONIZING A POEM BY MY FRIEND LUSTATIONED AT CHANGZHOU
Only to wanderers can come Ever new the shock of beauty, Of white cloud and red cloud dawning from the sea, Of spring in the wild-plum and river-willow.... I watch a yellow oriole dart in the warm air, And a green water- plant reflected by the sun. Suddenly an old song fills My heart with home, my eyes with tears.

095
五言律詩
沈佺期
雜詩
聞道黃龍戍， 頻年不解兵。 可憐閨裡月， 長在漢家營。 少婦今春意， 良人昨夜情。 誰能將旗鼓， 一為取龍城？

Five-character-regular-verse
Shen Quanqi
LINES
Against the City of the Yellow Dragon Our troops were sent long years ago, And girls here watch the same melancholy moon That lights our Chinese warriors -- And young wives dream a dream of spring, That last night their heroic husbands, In a great attack, with flags and drums, Captured the City of the Yellow Dragon.

096
五言律詩
宋之問
題大庾嶺北驛
陽月南飛雁， 傳聞至此回， 我行殊未已， 何日復歸來？ 江靜潮初落， 林昏瘴不開。 明朝望鄉處， 應見隴頭梅。

Five-character-regular-verse
Song Zhiwen
INSCRIBED ON THE WALL OF AN INN NORTH OF DAYU MOUNTAIN
They say that wildgeese, flying southward, Here turn back, this very month.... Shall my own southward journey Ever be retraced, I wonder? ...The river is pausing at ebb-tide, And the woods are thick with clinging mist -- But tomorrow morning, over the mountain, Dawn will be white with the plum-trees of home.

097
五言律詩
王灣
次北固山下
客路青山外， 行舟綠水前。 潮平兩岸闊， 風正一帆懸。 海日生殘夜， 江春入舊年。 鄉書何處達？ 歸雁洛陽邊。

Five-character-regular-verse
Wang Wan
A MOORING UNDER NORTH FORT HILL
Under blue mountains we wound our way, My boat and 1, along green water; Until the banks at low tide widened, With no wind stirring my lone sail. ...Night now yields to a sea of sun, And the old year melts in freshets. At last I can send my messengers -- Wildgeese, homing to Loyang.

098
五言律詩
常建
題破山寺後禪院
清晨入古寺， 初日照高林。 曲徑通幽處， 禪房花木深。 山光悅鳥性， 潭影空人心。 萬籟此俱寂， 惟餘鐘磬音。

Five-character-regular-verse
Chang Jian
A BUDDHIST RETREAT BEHIND BROKEN-MOUNTAIN TEMPLE
In the pure morning, near the old temple, Where early sunlight points the tree-tops, My path has wound, through a sheltered hollow Of boughs and flowers, to a Buddhist retreat. Here birds are alive with mountain-light, And the mind of man touches peace in a pool, And a thousand sounds are quieted By the breathing of a temple-bell.

099
五言律詩
岑參
寄左省杜拾遺
聯步趨丹陛， 分曹限紫微。 曉隨天仗入， 暮惹御香歸。 白髮悲花落， 青雲羨鳥飛。 聖朝無闕事， 自覺諫書稀。

Five-character-regular-verse
Cen Can
A MESSAGE TO CENSOR Du Fu AT HIS OFFICE IN THE LEFT COURT
Together we officials climbed vermilion steps, To be parted by the purple walls.... Our procession, which entered the palace at dawn, Leaves fragrant now at dusk with imperial incense. ...Grey heads may grieve for a fallen flower, Or blue clouds envy a lilting bird; But this reign is of heaven, nothing goes wrong, There have been almost no petitions.

100
五言律詩
李白
贈孟浩然
吾愛孟夫子， 風流天下聞。 紅顏棄軒冕， 白首臥松雲。 醉月頻中聖， 迷花不事君。 高山安可仰？ 徒此挹清芬。

Five-character-regular-verse
Li Bai
A MESSAGE TO MENG HAORAN
Master, I hail you from my heart, And your fame arisen to the skies.... Renouncing in ruddy youth the importance of hat and chariot, You chose pine-trees and clouds; and now, whitehaired, Drunk with the moon, a sage of dreams, Flower- bewitched, you are deaf to the Emperor.... High mountain, how I long to reach you, Breathing your sweetness even here!