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My light boat greets an immortal guest
Coming leisurely over the lake.
We face out high windows with paired wine cups
While all around the lotuses bloom.
We face out high windows: broad waters swirl—
The lone high moon circles like sleeves.
The sound of apes comes from the valley:
Borne on the wind, it enters the door.
临湖亭
轻舸迎仙客，
悠悠湖上来。
当轩对尊酒，
四面芙蓉开。
当轩弥滉漾，
孤月正裴回。
谷口猨声发，
风传入户来。
Wang’s intimated guest arrives at the aforementioned lake, and we’ll spend the next couple poems there. The pavilion is the sort set in the middle of the waters, rather than literally on the bank, and in Wang’s second couplet the action has moved inside it. More puzzling are the non-autumnal lotuses and the sudden monkeys.
(I’ve accepted the alternate reading of 仙客 immortal guest over my base text’s 上客 superior guest to avoid the oddly awkward repetition of 上 over in the next line.)
---L.
Coming leisurely over the lake.
We face out high windows with paired wine cups
While all around the lotuses bloom.
We face out high windows: broad waters swirl—
The lone high moon circles like sleeves.
The sound of apes comes from the valley:
Borne on the wind, it enters the door.
临湖亭
轻舸迎仙客，
悠悠湖上来。
当轩对尊酒，
四面芙蓉开。
当轩弥滉漾，
孤月正裴回。
谷口猨声发，
风传入户来。
Wang’s intimated guest arrives at the aforementioned lake, and we’ll spend the next couple poems there. The pavilion is the sort set in the middle of the waters, rather than literally on the bank, and in Wang’s second couplet the action has moved inside it. More puzzling are the non-autumnal lotuses and the sudden monkeys.
(I’ve accepted the alternate reading of 仙客 immortal guest over my base text’s 上客 superior guest to avoid the oddly awkward repetition of 上 over in the next line.)
---L.