North of Qingluo, Li Shangyin (300 Tang Shi #160)

(Already did #159 lo these couple years ago, so on to the next.)

Sun enters Yanzi in the west—
Thatched hut: I ask a lonely monk,
“Where in these scattered leaves are we?
How much further through these cold clouds?”
A single strike on dusk’s stone bell.
Upon the fence climbs just one vine.
Everyone’s in the dust of the world—
Why must I both love and hate it?

北青萝
残阳西入崦，
茅屋访孤僧。
落叶人何在？
寒云路几层。
独敲初夜磬，
闲倚一枝藤。
世界微尘里，
吾宁爱与憎。

Qingluo (“clear vines”) is a peak of the Wangwu Mountains in northwestern Henan, more or less due north of Luoyang. Lost in translation: it’s the “last/remaining” sun, and further “[on] the road.” Mt. Yanzi in western Gansu is the mountain where the sun supposedly entered the earth upon setting. The monk is specifically Buddhist, and the dust of the world is a Buddhist concept, signifying our attachments to existence.

(Last Li Shangyin in this section. Whew! He’s better known for his 7-character verse, which gave him even more scope for his knotty obscurity.)

---L.