An Old Fisherman, Liu Zongyuan (300 Tang Shi #70)

An old fisherman stops at night by the west cliff;
At dawn he draws pure water, lights the southern bamboo.
When mist breaks up at sunrise, he sees no one else.
His “Ai!” the only sound—mountains and water green—
Turn ’round and look—he’s mid-stream at the edge of the sky.
Above the cliffs, the clouds mindlessly chase each other.

渔翁
渔翁夜傍西岩宿，
晓汲清湘燃楚烛。
烟销日出不见人，
欸乃一声山水绿。
回看天际下中流，
岩上无心云相逐。

Another short and easy one as a break, an “old-style” poem in the same form as Song of Lasting Regret (which immediately follows this). Idiom: the bamboo is literally that of Chu, the southern Warring States kingdom. The “Ai!” (欸) could be either a sigh or a grunt of effort as the old guy sculls. It’s possible it would be better to nativize it to “Eh!”

---L.