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Edited with corrections 1 Nov '22
Gazing Together upon Jingmen
Millennia, this ancient land, the ages rush by quickly.
By one pillar of this high terrace, an already severed spirit.
I hope that at the hill pavilion there is a clear night’s moon—
And with my lord, whistling long, I’ll learn to revive your sect.
Reflecting Upon the South Side of Jingmen
The famous Song Yu lost his beauty and refinement,
The poet Yu Xin had his flourishing talent cut.
Who’s like that crane of Liaodong, after a thousand years
Perched on the Son of Heaven’s pillar, and yet returning?
同鹿门少年马绍隆冥游诗
作者：庞徳公
千年故国岁华奔，
一柱高台已断魂。
唯有岘亭清夜月，
与君长啸学苏门。〈同望荆门〉
高名宋玉遗闲丽，
作赋兰成绝盛才。
谁似辽东千岁鹤，
倚天华表却归来。〈忆荆南〉
Yeah, of course there’s no headnote to help …
Well, to note the obvious: Lumen (“deer gate”) and Jingmen (“thorn gate”) are mountains in western Hubei. There was an ancient meditative practice involving long, drawn-out whistles. Song Yu was a poet of the Warring State of Chu, and Yu Xin (here actually called by his Buddhist name Lan Cheng) was a poet of the Liang Dynasty, author of “Lament of the South.” The crane refers to the legend of Daoist immortal Ding Lingwei, a prefect of Liaodong who was prosecuted for using government grain stores and saved from execution by being carried off by cranes; a thousand years later, transformed into a crane himself, he returned to the city, landing on a pillar before the city gates considered sacred to the imperium, and was shot at to chase him off. And as for the ghost himself, he might be the Pang De who was defeated by Guan Yu (he of the glorious beard, later deified) during the wars of the Three Kingdoms somewhere in this region, but that’s not the only Pang De who was a duke.
Translation trickiness: 冥 (míng) has the primary meanings “dark/gloomy/hidden” plus, as with 幽, in any context involving spirits or the dead, “the underworld” or “the afterlife.” Here in the title 冥游 “afterlife wandering” isn’t too hard to render, but there are five later poems with 冥会, literally “afterlife meeting,” that I’m struggling with. I’ll see what I can come up with by the time I post them. (FWIW, in an earlier poem, I rendered 冥途 as dark path, which was great at the time but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t adjust to be more consistent with these.)
---L.
Gazing Together upon Jingmen
Millennia, this ancient land, the ages rush by quickly.
By one pillar of this high terrace, an already severed spirit.
I hope that at the hill pavilion there is a clear night’s moon—
And with my lord, whistling long, I’ll learn to revive your sect.
Reflecting Upon the South Side of Jingmen
The famous Song Yu lost his beauty and refinement,
The poet Yu Xin had his flourishing talent cut.
Who’s like that crane of Liaodong, after a thousand years
Perched on the Son of Heaven’s pillar, and yet returning?
同鹿门少年马绍隆冥游诗
作者：庞徳公
千年故国岁华奔，
一柱高台已断魂。
唯有岘亭清夜月，
与君长啸学苏门。〈同望荆门〉
高名宋玉遗闲丽，
作赋兰成绝盛才。
谁似辽东千岁鹤，
倚天华表却归来。〈忆荆南〉
Yeah, of course there’s no headnote to help …
Well, to note the obvious: Lumen (“deer gate”) and Jingmen (“thorn gate”) are mountains in western Hubei. There was an ancient meditative practice involving long, drawn-out whistles. Song Yu was a poet of the Warring State of Chu, and Yu Xin (here actually called by his Buddhist name Lan Cheng) was a poet of the Liang Dynasty, author of “Lament of the South.” The crane refers to the legend of Daoist immortal Ding Lingwei, a prefect of Liaodong who was prosecuted for using government grain stores and saved from execution by being carried off by cranes; a thousand years later, transformed into a crane himself, he returned to the city, landing on a pillar before the city gates considered sacred to the imperium, and was shot at to chase him off. And as for the ghost himself, he might be the Pang De who was defeated by Guan Yu (he of the glorious beard, later deified) during the wars of the Three Kingdoms somewhere in this region, but that’s not the only Pang De who was a duke.
Translation trickiness: 冥 (míng) has the primary meanings “dark/gloomy/hidden” plus, as with 幽, in any context involving spirits or the dead, “the underworld” or “the afterlife.” Here in the title 冥游 “afterlife wandering” isn’t too hard to render, but there are five later poems with 冥会, literally “afterlife meeting,” that I’m struggling with. I’ll see what I can come up with by the time I post them. (FWIW, in an earlier poem, I rendered 冥途 as dark path, which was great at the time but now I’m wondering if I shouldn’t adjust to be more consistent with these.)
---L.