Larry's Pretty Good Poetry Journal

    The grasses green, so green,
    Covered with heavy frost—
    The magpie who was nesting
Keeps looking all around distraught.

咸通七年童谣
草青青，
被严霜。
鹊始巢，
复看颠狂。

One last random selection from Complete Tang Poems chapter 878. No idea of the historical context here—an editorial note would be nice. Potential double-meaning: green-green can describe someone as fresh-faced and/or very young, and a heavy frost can refer to stern parental authority. No idea what the magpie might represent, though.

---L.

A long skirt layered red and green—
A thousand li, ten-thousand li, it still smells sweet.

武后时童谣
红绿复裙长，
千里万里犹香。

From Complete Tang Poems chapter 878, which has “popular rhymes.” Wu Zetian controlled the reins of government from 665 to 690 as empress consort then empress dowager before taking the throne herself as empress regnant from 690-705. As best I can tell, later historians tended to use only 后 or 皇后 as her title, even though she used 皇帝 (“emperor”) while regnant. As for the poem itself, I suspect a reference to public events I’m ignorant of.

An alternate text has the last line 十里五里犹香 “Ten li, five li, it still smells sweet” —which is an odd progression for a Chinese poem.

---L.

Yesternight the stars above, yesternight the wind—
A painted tower in the west, Cassia Hall the east.
Though I’ve no wings to fly like brightly colored phoenixes,
Our two hearts beat as one like rhinos with their single horns.
In separate seats, we both played Pass the Hook—spring wine was warm—
In different groups, we Flipped the Covers—candlelight was red.
Alas I heard the watch drum beat and had to leave for duties,
Galloping to Orchid Terrace, a whirling aster seed.

无题
昨夜星辰昨夜风，
画楼西畔桂堂东。
身无彩凤双飞翼，
心有灵犀一点通。
隔座送钩春酒暖，
分曹射覆蜡灯红。
嗟余听鼓应官去，
走马兰台类转蓬。



And here we meet extra challenges. This is the first of six of romantic/erotic poems in 3TP that Li Shangyin did not give a title (in contrast to #143, where the title was lost) —a very unusual practice. This edition numbers the other five as 1 through 5, despite their coming from different poem-sets and being placed not in sequence. And then I’m, like, why not number this? IDK. The editing of my base text leaves a lot to be desired, sometimes, and I should probably renumber them—or more likely, just remove the numbers. These poems are to/about a woman (or possibly more than one) who has never been identified, leading to 无题 sometimes being translated as “To One Unnamed,” which … actually is a defensible, but “Untitled” is more accurate.

But to focus on this one: it was written as the first of a two-poem set, the second of which (a quatrain) is not in 3TP. It’s framed as written the morning after a banquet where he could see but not interact closely with his (would-be?) lover. Rhinoceroses were believed to communicate telepathically through their horns. (Possibly I should commit to rendering this line as a fully English idiom.) “Pass the hook” (送钩) and “flip the cover” (射覆) were guessing games in which an object (such as a hook) is hidden in closed fists or under covers, respectively, and someone has to guess which one.

---L.

I languish, grieving for you and also for myself.
How long is a hundred years in hours of a life?
Deng You had no son, and soon I knew that fate—
Pan Yue mourned his dead wife in a wasteful song.
Even buried together, where could I look in the shadow-lands?
A fated meeting in another life is hard to hope for.
Yet till night’s end, I will keep opening my eyes,
Repaying your whole lifetime with still-wrinkled brows.

遣悲怀 之三
闲坐悲君亦自悲，
百年都是几多时？
邓攸无子寻知命，
潘岳悼亡犹费词。
同穴窅冥何所望？
他生缘会更难期。
惟将终夜长开眼，
报答平生未展眉。

Yuan Zhen and Wei Cong were childless. Deng You and Pan Yue both lived during the Western Jin Dynasty—the latter (who was infamous for his good looks) wrote elegies mourning his wife, including a three-poem set that was model for this one.

---L.

(Has it really been 8 months since I worked on 3TP? It really has. Yikes.)

A daughter doted on the most by Lord Xie An,
You married this Qian Lou whose matters all went awry.
Seeing I had no robes, you searched in your trousseau—
When I begged, Buy more wine, you sold your golden hairpin—
Wild greens supplied our meals, tasty as long beans—
Dead leaves eked out our fire, thanks to a scholar-tree.
And now I have an official’s wage, more than ten-thousand,
While I prepare your offerings and fast again.

遣悲怀 之一
谢公最小偏怜女，
自嫁黔娄百事乖。
顾我无衣搜荩箧，
泥他沽酒拔金钗。
野蔬充膳甘长藿，
落叶添薪仰古槐。
今日俸钱过十万，
与君营奠复营斋。

First of a set of three poems (all in 3TP) written in memory of his wife, Wei Cong, who had died two years previously. Xie An was an Eastern Jin Dynasty scholar-official who doted on his niece, the scholar and poet Xie Daoyun (mentioned in Three Character Classic), standing in for his father-in-law. Qian Lou was a Warring States era official with extremely bad political luck who died an impoverished, standing in for himself. Clothing him from her trousseau is a big deal—a woman’s dowry was strictly for her own use, and went with her should she ever return to her father’s house (when divorced or widowed). The offerings are those of a memorial service.

I’m considering the slightly less literal translation “Unbridled Sorrow” for the title.

---L.

83.
Learn while you are young,
Advance when you are grown—
Devote yourself to the ruler
And benefit the subjects—

幼而学
壮而行
上致君
下泽民

84.
Raise your reputation
And glorify your parents—
Shed light on ancestors,
Enrich posterity.

扬名声
显父母
光于前
裕于后

85.
Some men bequeath to children
Overflowing gold.
I am teaching children
Only this one Classic.

人遗子
金满嬴
我教子
惟一经

86.
Diligence has payoffs
While playing has no profit.
I give this warning, oh!
Strive with all your might.

勤有功
戏无益
戒之哉
宜勉力


... and that's that.

75.
Zu Ying at eight years old
Could recite the Songs.
Li Bi at seven years
Could write a poem on go.

莹八岁
能咏诗
泌七岁
能赋碁

76.
They were both so clever,
Men called them wonderful—
All of you young students
Ought to be like them.

彼颖悟
人称奇
尔幼学
当效之

77.
Cai Yan styled Wenji
Had talent with the qin,
And that Xie Daoyun
Could sing poems of her own.

蔡文姬
能辨琴
谢道韫
能咏吟

78.
Both of them were girls,
Yet they were bright and clever—
All you sons of men
Ought to rouse yourselves.

彼女子
且聪敏
尔男子
当自警

• 75: Zu Ying had memorized the entire Classic of Songs by age eight. Li Bi at age seven was introduced to Tang Emperor Xuanzong as a promising student, and at imperial command he improvised a poem on go aka weiqi. • 77: Cai Yan was a musician, composer, and poet, and the subject of “Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute” (which I hope to get to someday). The qin was the prestige form of zither. Xie Daoyun was a poet and scholar (and a badass woman of history). • 78: UUUGGGHHH misogyny, using the accomplishments of women to taunt men. Just, ugh.

---L.

67.
One split and wove his reeds,
One peeled his bamboo slips—
They neither one had books
Yet knew to make an effort.

披蒲编
削竹简
彼无书
且知勉

68.
One tied his hair to the rafters,
One pricked his thigh with an awl—
They didn’t have a teacher
But toiled with diligence.

头悬梁
锥刺股
彼不教
自勤苦

69.
One bagged up fireflies,
One used moon’s glare from snow—
Although their homes were poor
They studied continuously.

如囊萤
如映雪
家虽贫
学不缀

70.
One carried firewood,
One propped his books on horns—
Although their bodies toiled
In hardship, they rose high.

如负薪
如挂角
身虽劳
犹苦卓

• 67: Before paper, people wrote on mats of woven reeds or on slips of bamboo wood bound into a scroll. Lu Wenshu and Gongsun Hong were poor enough that, as students, they had to make their own copy-books. • 68: To keep themselves awake while studying late, Sun Jing knotted his hair around a rafter so it pulled if he nodded off, while Su Qin pricked his thigh. • 69: Che Yin’s family couldn’t afford oil for a lamp, so he read by the light of fireflies captured in gauze. Sun Kang’s family ditto, so he read by moonlight reflected off snow. • 70: Before passing the civil service exams in middle-age, Zhu Maichen supported himself as a woodcutter. Li Mi had the habit of riding on a cow instead of a horse, so he could prop a book on the horns to read as he traveled (note that unlike the other seven in this passage, he was born rich, and never toiled for a living).

---L.

59.
Twenty times, rule passed
For three full centuries.
The Liang extinguished it
And thus the state was changed.

二十传
三百载
梁灭之
国乃改

60.
The Liang and Tang and Jin
Plus Han and also Zhou
Are the Five Dynasties—
Each one had its causes.

梁唐晋
及汉周
称五代
皆有由

61.
Then blazing Song rose up,
Received Zhou’s abdication.
Eighteen times, rule passed
Till South by North was flooded.

炎宋兴
受周禅
十八传
南北混

62.
All that’s in seventeen
Dynastic histories,
Showing good rule and chaos—
Know each rise and fall.

十七史
全在兹
载治乱
知兴衰

• 59: The Later Liang (907-923) was the first declared successor of Tang in the Five Dynasties & Ten Kingdoms Period (907-979). The Ten Kingdoms are also skipped in this account—as is Wu Zetian’s interruption of the Tang succession, despite the parallels with Wang Mang. (sings 🎵 we don’t talk about Zetian 🎵) • 60: The Five Dynasties are the Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou. In the context of st.62, the “causes” are why they rose and fell. • 61: The Later Zhou state was usurped by the founder of the Song Dynasty in 960. It’s “blazing” because if you identify the succession of the Five Dynasties with the succession of the Five Phases (see st.17), Song returns the cycle to Fire. This account stops with the Southern Song’s conquest by Mongol forces from the north because that’s when this was written. (Ming, Qing, and Republican Era editions of this poem added stanzas taking the account up to their present.) The word I render as “flooded” also has the sense of “turbulence” and “(primal) chaos.” • 62: Finally we return to discussing the syllabus.

---L.

51.
Qin of the clan of Ying
United everyone.
When reign passed to Ershi,
Chu and Han contended.

嬴秦氏
始兼并
传二世
楚汉争

52.
Gaozu then rose up,
Founding the House of Han—
Until Wang Mang usurped
Little Emperor Ping.

高祖兴
汉业建
至孝平
王莽篡

53.
Guangwu then rose up—
He of the Eastern Han.
Han ruled four hundred years,
Ending with Emperor Xian.

光武兴
为东汉
四百年
终于献

54.
Then Wei and Shu and Wu
Contended for Han’s throne—
We call them the Three Kingdoms—
Until the two Jins ruled.

魏蜀吴
争汉鼎
号三国
迄两晋

• 51: The warring state that ended up on top was Qin ruled by Ying Zheng, who as Qin Shihuang created a united empire (221 BCE). His son Ershi (“second generation”) was killed by rebels (207 BCE), and the ensuing scramble for power eventually resulted in the warlords of the domains of Chu (in Hunan) and Han (in Sichuan) duking it out. • 52: Gaozu of Han won, establishing the Han Dynasty (202 BCE). Infant Emperor Ping was deposed (9 CE) by his regent, Wang Mang, who ruled in his own name. • 53: Emperor Gunagwu restored Han rule (25 CE), starting the Eastern period of the Han Dynasty (25-220). • 54: As the Han empire disintegrated (starting in 184), the ensuing scramble for power eventually resulted in the warlords of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu duking it out. Wei won but its throne was seized by the founder of the Jin Dynasty, which also had Western (266-316) and Eastern (317-420) periods.

---L.