lnhammer: the Chinese character for poetry, red on white background (Default)
lnhammer ([personal profile] lnhammer) wrote2020-07-01 02:35 pm

Spring Feelings, Li Bai (Tang Shi #7)

Yan grasses are like threads of jade,
Qin mulberries bend their branches green—
My lord now thinks of his day of return,
A time of heartbreak for this one.
Spring breeze, we do not know each other
So why blow into my gauze curtains?

春思
燕草如碧丝,
秦桑低绿枝;
当君怀归日,
是妾断肠时。
春风不相识,
何事入罗帏?

I wanted something short to prime my well—there’s a few more six-line poems left in case I need more. Yan is the frontier north and east of modern Beijing and Qin is the capital region of modern Shaanxi. The speaker uses a humble female first-person pronoun, and as much of the time where there’s any remotely erotic context, the operative connotation of spring is wanton.

---L.
sartorias: (Default)

[personal profile] sartorias 2020-07-01 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Love the images.