Chuzhou West Brook, Wei Yingwu (Tang Shi #272)

I much prefer this sheltered grass beside the brook.
Above, an oriole sings from a shadowed tree.
The spring tide brings on rain—evening comes apace.
Out in the open, an unmanned ferry drifts across.

滁州西涧
独怜幽草涧边生，
上有黄鹂深树鸣。
春潮带雨晚来急，
野渡无人舟自横。

Chuzhou is a little north of the lower Yangzi, west of Nanjing. The ferry is apparently for crossing a nearby lake. That’s “tide” as in sea-tide, not time of year, and no I don’t get what it has to do with the rain.

—L.