Larry's Pretty Good Poetry Journal

The five colors blind men’s eyes;
The five tones deafen men’s ears;
The five flavors deaden men’s mouths;
Galloping races and hunting the fields madden men’s minds;
Obtaining rare goods hinders men’s progress.^[12-1]
Because of this, a sage serves the belly, not the eye,
And so banishes the latter and chooses the former.

^[12-1] Other texts swap ll.4-5 with ll.2-3, which weakens the passage

五色令人目盲；
五音令人耳聋；
五味令人口爽；
驰骋田猎，令人心发狂；
难得之货，令人行妨。
是以圣人为腹不为目，
故去彼取此。

As an annotation for l.5-6, or the whole thing really, see chapter 3. I get the impression Laozi (if he existed) would have gotten along with Zeno the Stoic.

---L.

Ah—when you hold as one your mortal and immortal souls,
Might they indeed never separate?
When you gather the vital breath and make it pliant,
Might [it? you?] indeed be [like] a baby?
When you cleanse your mysterious perception,
Might you indeed be faultless?
When you love the people while ruling the state,
Might that indeed not be wise?
When [your?] heaven’s gate opens and closes,
Might this indeed be acting as a female?
When your fame reaches everywhere,
Might that indeed not be wise?
[What] bears them[?], nourishes them[?],
Bears yet doesn’t possess,
Acts yet doesn’t rely upon,
Leads yet doesn’t dominate:
This is called the Mysterious Virtue.

载营魄抱一，
能无离乎？
专气致柔，
能婴儿乎？
涤除玄览，
能无疵乎？
爱民治国，
能无知乎？
天门开阖，
能为雌乎？
明白四达，
能无知乎？
生之、畜之，
生而不有，
为而不恃，
长而不宰，
是谓玄德。

The subjects of each clause are all implied in the original and outright guesses, even those not explicitly so marked—heck, I’m not even sure who the two explicit pronouns refer to. The mortal soul remains with the body after death, while the immortal soul can depart. “Vital breath” is a placeholder translation for 气 qì, that energy behind wuxia martial arts and fantasy daoist superpowers. (Well, maybe not “placeholder” but no one seems to have found a better one.) The heaven’s gate bit goes whoosh over my head and, going by the hosts of divergent commentaries, most everyone’s, but I’m not alone in seeing culture-typical misogyny. Some apologists equate “acting female” with the calmness or receptivity of yin. The “Mysterious Virtue” is the same virtue as the title, having its debut mention.

Errata slip to the last couplet of ch.2 and 8: it turns out 夫唯 is a set phrase, both characters of which introduce a tangential change of subject (the grammar I learned this from claims DDJ uses the duplication “unnecessarily and rather pompously”). My provisional rendering of it is now in regards to which, though suggestions are welcome. (Speaking of which might work, but that feels too conversational.)

My useful takeaway: sometimes that cryptic text really is being pompous.

---L.

[I’m not supposed to be doing this. I’ve too many other things to do.]

[A person of] highest excellence is like water.
Water’s excellence benefits the ten-thousand things without competing [with them]
And it occupies [low] places that sundry men abhor,
And thus is close to the Way.
[A sage] lives in an excellent place,
Thinks with excellent profundity^[8-1],
Gives with excellent benevolence^[8-2],
Speaks with excellent trustworthiness,
Governs with excellent order,
[Handles] affairs with excellent ability,
Acts with excellent timing.
In regards to which, if [you] don’t compete,
[You]’ll be without fault.

^[8-1] Another text has “clarity”
^[8-2] Another text has “gives with excellent heavenliness,” which is understood based on another passage as giving just enough, the way heaven does

上善若水。
水善利万物而不争
处衆人之所恶，
故几于道。
居善地，
心善渊，
与善仁，
言善信，
正善治，
事善能，
动善时。
夫唯不争，
故无尤。

(Many) people also abhor being humble. The last couplet echoes that of ch.2, which makes me wonder which I’m misunderstanding.

ETA Replaced l.7 based on new understanding. TBH the alternate reading strikes me as much closer to sentiments expressed elsewhere so far -- benevolence is not something Laozi emphasizes.

ETA2 Figured out what I was misunderstanding in last couplet.

---L.

[I can stop any time. Really.]

The Valley Spirit [i.e., the Way] does not die:
We call this the mysterious mother.
The [birth-]gate of the mysterious mother:
We call this the root of heaven and earth.
Drawn out and out, it still remains,
Affecting things without effort.

谷神不死，
是谓玄牝。
玄牝之门，
是谓天地根。
绵绵若存，
用之不勤。

The Way is sometimes called the Valley Spirit because valleys have more water and so are fecund, much like the generative Way. Same “mystery/mysterious” as in chapter 1.

---L.

[There are already too many bad translations of Laozi. There is no good reason to make another. None. Nope.]

The Way surges forth and might never run out.
Deep it is, ah! —as if the ancestor of the ten-thousand things.
[It] blunts their sharpness^[4-1] and loosens their tangles^[4-2],
Harmonizes their brilliance and joins with their dust.
Profound it is, ah! —as if it might [ever] remain.
I don’t know whose child it is,
[For it] appeared before the gods.

^[4-1] Another text has “joy”
^[4-2] Another text has “fragrance”

道冲而用之或不盈。
渊兮似万物之宗。
挫其锐，解其纷，
和其光，同其尘。
湛兮似或存。
吾不知谁之子，
象帝之先。

All pronouns in ll.3-4 are pure guesses, though having a structure parallel to 3.5-6 seems significant.

---L.

[I know, I know … again. This iteration was inspired by listening to an audiobook of A Wizard of Earthsea.]

All under heaven know the beautiful by their beauty, and thereby the ugly as well.
All know the virtuous by their virtue, and thereby the unvirtuous as well.
Hence what exists and what doesn’t exist give rise to each other:
The difficult and easy complete each other,
The long and short compare with^[2-1] each other,
The high and low incline towards^[2-2] each other,
Sounds^[2-3] and music harmonize each other,
Before and after follow^[2-4] each other.
Because of this, the sage^[2-5] manages affairs without doing,
And instructs without speaking;
The ten-thousand things create this yet do not explain,
Are born yet don’t exist,
Do yet don’t will,
Achieve completion yet don’t rest.
Mankind only doesn’t^[2-6] rest,
And because of this [can]not depart.

^[2-1] Other texts have “imitate”
^[2-2] Other texts have “fill”
^[2-3] Other texts have “thoughts,” which suggests understanding “sounds” as “words”
^[2-4] Other texts have “are constantly with”
^[2-5] Other texts have “musician”
^[2-6] Other texts omit “doesn’t”

天下皆知美之为美，斯恶已。
皆知善之为善，斯不善已。
故有无相生，
难易相成，
长短相较，
高下相倾，
音声相和，
前后相随。
是以圣人处无为之事，
行不言之教；
万物作焉而不辞，
生而不有。
为而不恃，
功成而弗居。
夫唯弗居，
是以不去。

FWIW, the base text is the standard recension from the 3rd century CE, the “other texts” are the Mawangdui texts from the 2nd century BCE. I’ve noted only significant differences—of which the last is the most important. Words I have especially tentative understandings of are “incline towards,” “fill,” and “musician” (which might be a fancy synonym for sage???).

ETA: Okay, yeah, one of the two Mawangdui texts consistently uses 声人 (which I read as musician) as a synonym for 圣人, sage, while the other uses the standard 圣人.

---L.

Cicada eyes, a tortoise body, legs like a spider,
Never facing you straight on while hurrying off—
And now he’s food displayed upon a banquet tray:
So this disorder’s left the rivers-and-lakes, or no?

咏蟹
蝉眼龟形脚似蛛，
未曾正面向人趋。
如今飣在盘筵上，
得似江湖乱走无。

Same author as the previous poem, from the same CTP book of comic poems. According to one note (not in my base text hmph), this was improvised, when challenged by another guest, at a banquet celebrating a naval commander putting down a revolt. Wordplay: a “disorder of the rivers and lakes” is both the anatomical mishmash that is the aquatic crab, and civil disorder among the populace—IOW, the poet is roasting the guest of honor.

---L.

Perfumed and powdered, moist with sweat, like pegs of an inlaid qin—
In spring’s lust they are melting cream, a gentle rain, soft fat—
And when her bathing’s done, her husband touches, fondles them,
The magic blossoms, as the cool seeps in, are purple grapes.

酥乳
粉香汗湿瑶琴轸，
春逗酥融绵雨膏。
浴罢檀郎扪弄处，
灵华凉沁紫葡萄。

The root sense of 酥 is butter or curd-cheese, which I’ve nativized as “creamy,” though “butter” might be more clear in l.2. I think the point of the pegs is how round her breasts are—though jutting out may also be part of the image? Honestly not sure here. Lost in translation: the qin is specifically inlaid with “jade.”

This is the last of Zhao Luanluan’s poems in CTP. I said author deets later, but that’ll have to wait till the compilation post in larryhammer, because it’s a wild ride.

---L.

A cup held at them barely moves her cherry lips—
A dainty cough, and there’s the scent of jasmine blooms.
I saw an unpainted mouth like Bai Juyi’s Fan Su:
A string of melon seeds, a pomegranate fragrance.

檀口
衔杯微动樱桃颗，
咳唾轻飘茉莉香。
曾见白家樊素口，
瓠犀颗颗缀榴芳。

“Sandalwood lips” describes ones that are bright red—possibly “crimson” would be a better translation. Fan Su was a courtesan in Tang poet Bai Juyi’s household, whom he celebrated in a famous poem. The melon seeds are, if it’s not clear, her teeth. Added in translation: l.3’s “like,” because the author lived over three centuries later.

(This one is a little more clumsy, rhyming with the synonyms 香 and 芳, both meaning fragrance—not to mention, which is it, jasmine or pomegranate.)

---L.

She tidies up her fragrant cloud that’s not yet dry from washing—
Like crow’s neck or cicada wing, it’s glossy, shiny, cold.
On one side she inserts aslant a golden phoenix pin,
Then makeup done, she looks up smiling at her lord and husband.

云鬟
扰扰香云湿未干，
鸦领蝉翼腻光寒。
侧边斜插黄金凤，
妆罢夫君带笑看。

From Compete Tang Poems ch802, devoted to poems by women, first of five by the author; I’ll get to her deets later. Cloud hair is a specific hairstyle, with loops rising up from the head, as well as by general metonymy a term for a pretty young woman. There’s an alternate reading in l.2 of 翎 “plumage/tail-feather” instead of 领 “neck,” which is potentially a little more clear.

—L.