224
五言绝句
王维
鹿柴

空山不见人, 但闻人语响。
返景入深林, 复照青苔上。


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
五言绝句
王维
竹里馆

独坐幽篁里, 弹琴复长啸。
深林人不知, 明月来相照。


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
五言绝句
王维
送别

山中相送罢, 日暮掩柴扉。
春草明年绿, 王孙归不归。


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
五言绝句
王维
相思

红豆生南国, 春来发几枝。
愿君多采撷, 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
五言绝句
王维
杂诗

君自故乡来, 应知故乡事。
来日绮窗前, 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
五言绝句
裴迪
送崔九

归山深浅去, 须尽丘壑美。
莫学武陵人, 暂游桃源里。


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
五言绝句
祖咏
终南望余雪

终南阴岭秀, 积雪浮云端。
林表明霁色, 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
五言绝句
孟浩然
宿建德江

移舟泊烟渚, 日暮客愁新。
野旷天低树, 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
五言绝句
孟浩然
春晓

春眠不觉晓, 处处闻啼鸟。
夜来风雨声, 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
五言绝句
李白
夜思

床前明月光, 疑是地上霜。
举头望明月, 低头思故乡。


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
五言绝句
李白
怨情

美人卷珠帘, 深坐蹙蛾眉。
但见泪痕湿, 不知心恨谁。


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
五言绝句
杜甫
八阵图

功盖三分国, 名成八阵图。
江流石不转, 遗恨失吞吴。


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
五言绝句
王之涣
登鹳雀楼

白日依山尽, 黄河入海流。
欲穷千里目, 更上一层楼。


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
五言绝句
刘长卿
送灵澈

苍苍竹林寺, 杳杳钟声晚。
荷笠带斜阳, 青山独归远。


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
五言绝句
刘长卿
弹琴

泠泠七弦上, 静听松风寒。
古调虽自爱, 今人多不弹。


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
五言绝句
刘长卿
送上人

孤云将野鹤, 岂向人间住。
莫买沃洲山, 时人已知处。


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
五言绝句
韦应物
秋夜寄邱员外

怀君属秋夜, 散步咏凉天。
空山松子落, 幽人应未眠。


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
五言绝句
李端
听筝

鸣筝金粟柱, 素手玉房前。
欲得周郎顾, 时时误拂弦。


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
五言绝句
王建
新嫁娘

三日入厨下, 洗手作羹汤。
未谙姑食性, 先遣小姑尝。


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
五言绝句
权德舆
玉台体

昨夜裙带解, 今朝蟢子飞。
铅华不可弃, 莫是□砧归。


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
五言绝句
柳宗元
江雪

千山鸟飞绝, 万径人踪灭。
孤舟蓑笠翁, 独钓寒江雪。


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
五言绝句
元稹
行宫

寥落古行宫, 宫花寂寞红。
白头宫女在, 闲坐说玄宗。


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
五言绝句
白居易
问刘十九

绿螘新醅酒, 红泥小火炉。
晚来天欲雪, 能饮一杯无。


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
五言绝句
张祜
何满子

故国三千里, 深宫二十年。
一声何满子, 双泪落君前。


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
五言绝句
李商隐
登乐游原

向晚意不适, 驱车登古原。
夕阳无限好, 只是近黄昏。


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
五言绝句
贾岛
寻隐者不遇

松下问童子, 言师采药去。
只在此山中, 云深不知处。


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
五言绝句
李频
渡汉江

岭外音书绝, 经冬复立春。
近乡情更怯, 不敢问来人。


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
五言绝句
金昌绪
春怨

打起黄莺儿, 莫教枝上啼。
啼时惊妾梦, 不得到辽西。


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
五言绝句
西鄙人
哥舒歌

北斗七星高, 哥舒夜带刀。
至今窥牧马, 不敢过临洮。


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.