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lnhammerMy bamboo mat receives the early wind—
An empty city, tranquil in the moonbeams—
The River of Stars—autumn—one wild goose—
Flat stones and beaters—night—a thousand households…
Awaiting that season, for it must be late,
My heart still hopes and borrows time from sleep:
I just now started chanting your elegant lines
And, losing track, already crows are cawing.
酬程延秋夜即事见赠
长簟迎风早，
空城澹月华。
星河秋一雁，
砧杵夜千家。
节候看应晚，
心期卧亦赊。
向来吟秀句，
不觉已鸣鸦。
Variant texts name the friend Cheng Jin instead, and again we know nothing about the guy. The title is a slight mistranslation: more literally, it’s after the poem “was presented,” but that sort of respect-by-passive-voice sometimes comes across rather more awkwardly in English than it does in Chinese. Lost in translation: the mat is “oblong.” Thanks to this, I learned there are characters that means “a stick for beating clothes while washing them” (杵, here beater) and “buying on credit” (赊, here borrow). This language is so fun that way. The season awaited (also readable as festival) looks to be New Years, but I didn’t want to be too specific as “late” points to the time of both night and year—I worry that the line is unclear that way, though.
—L.
An empty city, tranquil in the moonbeams—
The River of Stars—autumn—one wild goose—
Flat stones and beaters—night—a thousand households…
Awaiting that season, for it must be late,
My heart still hopes and borrows time from sleep:
I just now started chanting your elegant lines
And, losing track, already crows are cawing.
酬程延秋夜即事见赠
长簟迎风早，
空城澹月华。
星河秋一雁，
砧杵夜千家。
节候看应晚，
心期卧亦赊。
向来吟秀句，
不觉已鸣鸦。
Variant texts name the friend Cheng Jin instead, and again we know nothing about the guy. The title is a slight mistranslation: more literally, it’s after the poem “was presented,” but that sort of respect-by-passive-voice sometimes comes across rather more awkwardly in English than it does in Chinese. Lost in translation: the mat is “oblong.” Thanks to this, I learned there are characters that means “a stick for beating clothes while washing them” (杵, here beater) and “buying on credit” (赊, here borrow). This language is so fun that way. The season awaited (also readable as festival) looks to be New Years, but I didn’t want to be too specific as “late” points to the time of both night and year—I worry that the line is unclear that way, though.
—L.