Song of the Floating Cloud, Lu Ping

[lnhammer]

Lu Ping of Wu County, whose family was from Changcheng in Huzhou, by nature took pleasure in the “mountains and waters” and never had a settled residence. In 785, he expired while traveling Yongjia. He was usually good friends with Shen Chang of Wuxing, and Ping came to Chang in a dream and presented him the “Floating Cloud Poem,” saying, “Ping’s boat has already departed, arriving mid-day tomorrow.” At the mentioned time, Ping’s funeral boat arrived. The talented author Liu Dan wrote on its banner, which felt spiritual, this inscription: “Blessed in life, this honored lord, / Greatly refined and cultured man— / He is no more and won’t recover: / Pass on his words of floating clouds.”

Hollow, hollow, and empty, empty—
Quick breath inside of heaven and earth:
Brief meeting’s over, it appears,
But I myself aren’t just my body.

咏浮云
作者：陆凭
〈吴郡陆凭，家湖州长城，性悦山水，未尝宁居。贞元乙丑，游永嘉殁。素与吴兴沈苌友善，托梦于苌，赠《浮云诗》一篇，曰：“凭船已发，明日午时到此。”如期，凭丧船至。词人杨丹为之志，具旌神感，铭曰：“笃生府君，美秀而文，没而不起，寄音浮云。”〉
虚虚复空空，
瞬息天地中。
假合成此像，
吾亦非吾躬。

Another example of a tricky translation decision: 浮云 (fú yún) literally means “floating cloud,” and idiomatically both “restless traveler” and “transience/fleeting.” The biography points to the former idiom, while the deeply Buddhist poem the latter. The only way I see to convey both senses is to trust the literal translation can carry both metaphors. Wuxing, Wu County, and Huzhou are all in the same general region of modern Zhejiang, with Yongjia a little further afield but still in that province. The “mountains and waters” are scenic landscapes in general.

(If the line He is no more and won’t recover gives you Monty Python giggles, you’re not alone. But that really is my best translation! Or to extend the joke, “But it’s my only line!”)

—L.