Wednesday, 31 July 2019

lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
Year after year, Gold River repeats Jade Gate.
Day after day, it’s horse whips and sword rings.
Late spring, white snow returns to the Green Tomb.
The Yellow River winds endlessly around Black Mountain.

征人怨
岁岁金河复玉关,
朝朝马策与刀环。
三春白雪归青冢,
万里黄河绕黑山。

Jade Gate was a frontier pass in the Great Wall through which the Silk Road passed, near what’s now the west end of Gansu. Gold River is in what’s now Huhhot, Inner Mongolia, also a frontier posting. The tomb is that of Wang Zhaojun, a great beauty of 1st century BCE, a little south of Huhhot, and Black Mountain is nearby, just off the Ordos Loop of the Yellow River. Sword rings are loose brass loops through the end of the pommel—the details of that line add up to “we see battle daily.” “Endlessly” is literally “ten thousand li.”

—L.

About

Warning: contents contain line-breaks.

As language practice, I like to translate poetry. My current project is Chinese, with practice focused on Tang Dynasty poetry. Previously this was classical Japanese, most recently working through the Kokinshu anthology (archived here). Suggestions, corrections, and questions always welcome.

There's also original pomes in the journal archives.

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