197

七言律诗

刘长卿

自夏口至鹦洲夕望岳阳寄源中丞

汀洲无浪复无烟， 楚客相思益渺然。
汉口夕阳斜渡鸟， 洞庭秋水远连天。
孤城背岭寒吹角， 独戍临江夜泊船。
贾谊上书忧汉室， 长沙谪去古今怜。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Liu Changqing

AN EVENING VIEW OF THE CITY OF YOUZHOU AFTER
COMING FROM HANKOU TO PARROT ISLAND A POEM SENT
TO MY FRIEND GOVERNOR YUAN

No ripples in the river, no mist on the islands,
Yet the landscape is blurred toward my friend in Chu....
Birds in the slanting sun cross Hankou,
And the autumn sky mingles with Lake Dongting.
...From a bleak mountain wall the cold tone of a bugle
Reminds me, moored by a ruined fort,
That Jia Yi's loyal plea to the House of Han
Banned him to Changsha, to be an exile.

198

七言律诗

钱起

赠阙下裴舍人

二月黄鹂飞上林， 春城紫禁晓阴阴。
长乐钟声花外尽， 龙池柳色雨中深。
阳和不散穷途恨， 霄汉长怀捧日心。
献赋十年犹未遇， 羞将白发对华簪。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Qian Qi

TO MY FRIEND AT THE CAPITAL SECRETARY PEI

Finches flash yellow through the Imperial Grove
Of the Forbidden City, pale with spring dawn;
Flowers muffle a bell in the Palace of Bliss
And rain has deepened the Dragon Lake willows;
But spring is no help to a man bewildered,
Who would be like a cloud upholding the Light of Heaven,
Yet whose poems, ten years refused, are shaming
These white hairs held by the petalled pin.

199

七言律诗

韦应物

寄李儋元锡

去年花里逢君别， 今日花开又一年。
世事茫茫难自料， 春愁黯黯独成眠。
身多疾病思田里， 邑有流亡愧俸钱。
闻道欲来相问讯， 西楼望月几回圆。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Wei Yingwu

TO MY FRIENDS LI DAN AND YUANXI

We met last among flowers, among flowers we parted,
And here, a year later, there are flowers again;
But, with ways of the world too strange to foretell,
Spring only brings me grief and fatigue.
I am sick, and I think of my home in the country-
Ashamed to take pay while so many are idle.
...In my western tower, because of your promise,
I have watched the full moons come and go.

200

七言律诗

韩翃

同题仙游观

仙台初见五城楼， 风物凄凄宿雨收。
山色遥连秦树晚， 砧声近报汉宫秋。
疏松影落空坛静， 细草香闲小洞幽。
何用别寻方外去？ 人间亦自有丹丘。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Han Hong

INSCRIBED IN THE TEMPLE OF THE WANDERING GENIE

I face, high over this enchanted lodge, the Court of the Five Cities of Heaven,
And I see a countryside blue and still, after the long rain.
The distant peaks and trees of Qin merge into twilight,
And Had Palace washing-stones make their autumnal echoes.
Thin pine-shadows brush the outdoor pulpit,
And grasses blow their fragrance into my little cave.
...Who need be craving a world beyond this one?
Here, among men, are the Purple Hills

201

七言律诗

皇甫冉

春思

莺啼燕语报新年， 马邑龙堆路几千。
家住层城邻汉苑， 心随明月到胡天。
机中锦字论长恨， 楼上花枝笑独眠。
为问天戎窦车骑， 何时返旆勒燕然。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Huangfu Ran

SPRING THOUGHTS

Finch-notes and swallow-notes tell the new year....
But so far are the Town of the Horse and the Dragon Mound
From this our house, from these walls and Han Gardens,
That the moon takes my heart to the Tartar sky.
I have woven in the frame endless words of my grieving....
Yet this petal-bough is smiling now on my lonely sleep.
Oh, ask General Dou when his flags will come home
And his triumph be carved on the rock of Yanran mountain!

202

七言律诗

卢纶

晚次鄂州

云开远见汉阳城， 犹是孤帆一日程。
估客昼眠知浪静， 舟人夜语觉潮生。
三湘愁鬓逢秋色， 万里归心对月明。
旧业已随征战尽， 更堪江上鼓鼙声。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Lu Lun

A NIGHT-MOORING AT WUCHANG

Far off in the clouds stand the walls of Hanyang,
Another day's journey for my lone sail....
Though a river-merchant ought to sleep in this calm weather,
I listen to the tide at night and voices of the boatmen.
...My thin hair grows wintry, like the triple Xiang streams,
Three thousand miles my heart goes, homesick with the moon;
But the war has left me nothing of my heritage --
And oh, the pang of hearing these drums along the river!

203

七言律诗

柳宗元

登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州刺史

城上高楼接大荒， 海天愁思正茫茫。
惊风乱飐芙蓉水， 密雨斜侵薜荔墙。
岭树重遮千里目， 江流曲似九回肠。
共来百越文身地， 犹自音书滞一乡。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Liu Zongyuan

FROM THE CITY-TOWER OF LIUZHOU
TO MY FOUR FELLOW-OFFICIALS AT ZHANG,
DING, FENG, AND LIAN DISTRICTS

At this lofty tower where the town ends, wilderness begins;
And our longing has as far to go as the ocean or the sky....
Hibiscus-flowers by the moat heave in a sudden wind,
And vines along the wall are whipped with slanting rain.
Nothing to see for three hundred miles but a blur of woods and mountain --
And the river's nine loops, twisting in our bowels....
This is where they have sent us, this land of tattooed people --
And not even letters, to keep us in touch with home.

204

七言律诗

刘禹锡

西塞山怀古

王浚楼船下益州， 金陵王气黯然收。
千寻铁锁沈江底， 一片降旛出石头。
人世几回伤往事， 山形依旧枕寒流。
从今四海为家日， 故垒萧萧芦荻秋。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Liu Yuxi

THOUGHTS OF OLD TIME AT WEST FORT MOUNTAIN

Since Wang Jun brought his towering ships down from Yizhou,
The royal ghost has pined in the city of Nanjing.
Ten thousand feet of iron chain were sunk here to the bottom --
And then came the flag of surrender on the Wall of Stone....
Cycles of change have moved into the past,
While still this mountain dignity has commanded the cold river;
And now comes the day of the Chinese world united,
And the old forts fill with ruin and with autumn reeds.

205

七言律诗

元稹

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。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Yuan Zhen

AN ELEGY I

O youngest, best-loved daughter of Xie,
Who unluckily married this penniless scholar,
You patched my clothes from your own wicker basket,
And I coaxed off your hairpins of gold, to buy wine with;
For dinner we had to pick wild herbs --
And to use dry locust-leaves for our kindling.
...Today they are paying me a hundred thousand --
And all that I can bring to you is a temple sacrifice.

206

七言律诗

元稹

遣悲怀之二

昔日戏言身后事， 今朝都到眼前来。
衣裳已施行看尽， 针线犹存未忍开。
尚想旧情怜婢仆， 也曾因梦送钱财。
诚知此恨人人有， 贫贱夫妻百事哀。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Yuan Zhen

AN ElEGY II

We joked, long ago, about one of us dying,
But suddenly, before my eyes, you are gone.
Almost all your clothes have been given away;
Your needlework is sealed, I dare not look at it....
I continue your bounty to our men and our maids --
Sometimes, in a dream, I bring you gifts.
...This is a sorrow that all mankind must know --
But not as those know it who have been poor together.

207

七言律诗

元稹

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。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Yuan Zhen

AN ELEGY III

I sit here alone, mourning for us both.
How many years do I lack now of my threescore and ten?
There have been better men than I to whom heaven denied a son,
There was a poet better than I whose dead wife could not hear him.
What have I to hope for in the darkness of our tomb?
You and I had little faith in a meeting after death-
Yet my open eyes can see all night
That lifelong trouble of your brow.

208

七言律诗

白居易

自河南经乱，关内阻饥，兄弟离散，各在一处。因望月有感，聊书所怀，寄上浮梁大兄，于潜七兄，乌江十五兄，兼示符离及下邽弟妹。

时难年荒世业空， 弟兄羁旅各西东。
田园寥落干戈后， 骨肉流离道路中。
吊影分为千里雁， 辞根散作九秋蓬。
共看明月应垂泪， 一夜乡心五处同。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Bai Juyi

TO MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS ADRIFT
IN TROUBLED TIMES THIS POEM OF THE MOON

Since the disorders in Henan and the famine in Guannei, my brothers and sisters have been scattered. Looking at the moon, I express my thoughts in this poem, which I send to my eldest brother at Fuliang, my seventh brother at Yuqian, My fifteen brother at Wujiang and my younger brothers and sisters at Fuli and Xiagui.

My heritage lost through disorder and famine,
My brothers and sisters flung eastward and westward,
My fields and gardens wrecked by the war,
My own flesh and blood become scum of the street,
I moan to my shadow like a lone-wandering wildgoose,
I am torn from my root like a water-plant in autumn:
I gaze at the moon, and my tears run down
For hearts, in five places, all sick with one wish.

209

七言律诗

李商隐

锦瑟

锦瑟无端五十弦， 一弦一柱思华年。
庄生晓梦迷蝴蝶， 望帝春心托杜鹃。
沧海月明珠有泪， 蓝田日暖玉生烟。
此情可待成追忆， 只是当时已惘然。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

THE INLAID HARP

I wonder why my inlaid harp has fifty strings,
Each with its flower-like fret an interval of youth.
...The sage Chuangzi is day-dreaming, bewitched by butterflies,
The spring-heart of Emperor Wang is crying in a cuckoo,
Mermen weep their pearly tears down a moon-green sea,
Blue fields are breathing their jade to the sun....
And a moment that ought to have lasted for ever
Has come and gone before I knew.

210

七言律诗

李商隐

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。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

TO ONE UNNAMED

The stars of last night and the wind of last night
Are west of the Painted Chamber and east of Cinnamon Hall.
...Though I have for my body no wings like those of the bright- coloured phoenix,
Yet I feel the harmonious heart-beat of the Sacred Unicorn.
Across the spring-wine, while it warms me, I prompt you how to bet
Where, group by group, we are throwing dice in the light of a crimson lamp;
Till the rolling of a drum, alas, calls me to my duties
And I mount my horse and ride away, like a water-plant cut adrift.

211

七言律诗

李商隐

隋宫

紫泉宫殿锁烟霞， 欲取芜城作帝家。
玉玺不缘归日角， 锦帆应是到天涯。
于今腐草无萤火， 终古垂杨有暮鸦。
地下若逢陈后主， 岂宜重问后庭花？

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

THE PALACE OF THE SUI EMPEROR

His Palace of Purple Spring has been taken by mist and cloud,
As he would have taken all Yangzhou to be his private domain
But for the seal of imperial jade being seized by the first Tang Emperor,
He would have bounded with his silken sails the limits of the world.
Fire-flies are gone now, have left the weathered grasses,
But still among the weeping-willows crows perch at twilight.
...If he meets, there underground, the Later Chen Emperor,
Do you think that they will mention a Song of Courtyard Flowers?

212

七言律诗

李商隐

无题之一

来是空言去绝踪， 月斜楼上五更钟。
梦为远别啼难唤， 书被催成墨未浓。
蜡照半笼金翡翠， 麝熏微度绣芙蓉。
刘郎已恨蓬山远， 更隔蓬山一万重。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

TO ONE UNNAMED I

You said you would come, but you did not, and you left me with no other trace
Than the moonlight on your tower at the fifth-watch bell.
I cry for you forever gone, I cannot waken yet,
I try to read your hurried note, I find the ink too pale.
...Blue burns your candle in its kingfisher-feather lantern
And a sweet breath steals from your hibiscus-broidered curtain.
But far beyond my reach is the Enchanted Mountain,
And you are on the other side, ten thousand peaks away.

213

七言律诗

李商隐

无题之二

飒飒东风细雨来， 芙蓉塘外有轻雷。
金蟾啮璅烧香入， 玉虎牵丝汲井回。
贾氏窥帘韩掾少， 宓妃留枕魏王才。
春心莫共花争发， 一寸想思一寸灰。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

TO ONE UNNAMED II

A misty rain comes blowing with a wind from the east,
And wheels faintly thunder beyond Hibiscus Pool.
...Round the golden-toad lock, incense is creeping;
The jade tiger tells, on its cord, of water being drawn
A great lady once, from behind a screen, favoured a poor youth;
A fairy queen brought a bridal mat once for the ease of a prince and then vanished.
...Must human hearts blossom in spring, like all other flowers?
And of even this bright flame of love, shall there be only ashes?

214

七言律诗

李商隐

筹笔驿

猿鸟犹疑畏简书， 风云常为护储胥。
徒令上将挥神笔， 终见降王走传车。
管乐有才原不忝， 关张无命欲何如？
他年锦里经祠庙， 梁父吟成恨有余。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

IN THE CAMP OF THE SKETCHING BRUSH

Monkeys and birds are still alert for your orders
And winds and clouds eager to shield your fortress.
...You were master of the brush, and a sagacious general,
But your Emperor, defeated, rode the prison-cart.
You were abler than even the greatest Zhou statesmen,
Yet less fortunate than the two Shu generals who were killed in action.
And, though at your birth-place a temple has been built to you,
You never finished singing your Song of the Holy Mountain

215

七言律诗

李商隐

无题之三

相见时难别亦难， 东风无力百花残。
春蚕到死丝方尽， 蜡炬成灰泪始乾。
晓镜但愁云鬓改， 夜吟应觉月光寒。
蓬莱此去无多路， 青鸟殷勤为探看。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

TO ONE UNNAMED III

Time was long before I met her, but is longer since we parted,
And the east wind has arisen and a hundred flowers are gone,
And the silk-worms of spring will weave until they die
And every night the candles will weep their wicks away.
Mornings in her mirror she sees her hair-cloud changing,
Yet she dares the chill of moonlight with her evening song.
...It is not so very far to her Enchanted Mountain
O blue-birds, be listening!-Bring me what she says!

216

七言律诗

李商隐

春雨

怅卧新春白袷衣， 白门寥落意多违。
红楼隔雨相望冷， 珠箔飘灯独自归。
远路应悲春晼晚， 残宵犹得梦依稀。
玉珰缄札何由达， 万里云罗一雁飞。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

SPRING RAIN

I am lying in a white-lined coat while the spring approaches,
But am thinking only of the White Gate City where I cannot be.
...There are two red chambers fronting the cold, hidden by the rain,
And a lantern on a pearl screen swaying my lone heart homeward.
...The long road ahead will be full of new hardship,
With, late in the nights, brief intervals of dream.
Oh, to send you this message, this pair of jade earrings! --
I watch a lonely wildgoose in three thousand miles of cloud.

217

七言律诗

李商隐

无题之四

凤尾香罗薄几重， 碧文圆顶夜深缝。
扇裁月魄羞难掩， 车走雷声语未通。
曾是寂寥金烬暗， 断无消息石榴红。
斑骓只系垂杨岸， 何处西南任好风？

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

TO ONE UNNAMED IV

A faint phoenix-tail gauze, fragrant and doubled,
Lines your green canopy, closed for the night....
Will your shy face peer round a moon-shaped fan,
And your voice be heard hushing the rattle of my carriage?
It is quiet and quiet where your gold lamp dies,
How far can a pomegranate-blossom whisper?
...I will tether my horse to a river willow
And wait for the will of the southwest wind.

218

七言律诗

李商隐

无题之五

重帷深下莫愁堂， 卧后清宵细细长。
神女生涯原是梦， 小姑居处本无郎。
风波不信菱枝弱， 月露谁教桂叶香。
直道相思了无益， 未妨惆怅是清狂。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Li Shangyin

TO ONE UNNAMED V

There are many curtains in your care-free house,
Where rapture lasts the whole night long.
...What are the lives of angels but dreams
If they take no lovers into their rooms?
...Storms are ravishing the nut-horns,
Moon- dew sweetening cinnamon-leaves
I know well enough naught can come of this union,
Yet how it serves to ease my heart!

219

七言律诗

温庭筠

利洲南渡

澹然空水对斜晖， 曲岛苍茫接翠微。
波上马嘶看棹去， 柳边人歇待船归。
数丛沙草群鸥散， 万顷江田一鹭飞。
谁解乘舟寻范蠡？ 五湖烟水独忘机。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Wen Tingyun

NEAR THE LIZHOU FERRY

The sun has set in the water's clear void,
And little blue islands are one with the sky.
On the bank a horse neighs. A boat goes by.
People gather at a willow- clump and wait for the ferry.
Down by the sand-bushes sea-gulls are circling,
Over the wide river-lands flies an egret.
...Can you guess why I sail, like an ancient wise lover,
Through the misty Five Lakes, forgetting words?

220

七言律诗

温庭筠

苏武庙

苏武魂销汉使前， 古祠高树两茫然。
云边雁断胡天月， 陇上羊归塞草烟。
回日楼台非甲帐， 去时冠剑是丁年。
茂陵不见封侯印， 空向秋波哭逝川。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Wen Tingyun

THE TEMPLE OF SU WU

Though our envoy, Su Wu, is gone, body and soul,
This temple survives, these trees endure....
Wildgeese through the clouds are still calling to the moon there
And hill-sheep unshepherded graze along the border.
...Returning, he found his country changed
Since with youthful cap and sword he had left it.
His bitter adventures had won him no title....
Autumn-waves endlessly sob in the river.

221

七言律诗

薛逢

宫词

十二楼中尽晓妆， 望仙楼上望君王。
锁衔金兽连环冷， 水滴铜龙昼漏长。
云髻罢梳还对镜， 罗衣欲换更添香。
遥窥正殿帘开处， 袍裤宫人扫御床。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Xue Feng

A PALACE POEM

In twelve chambers the ladies, decked for the day,
Peer afar for their lord from their Fairy-View Lodge;
The golden toad guards the lock on the door-chain,
And the bronze-dragon water-clock drips through the morning
Till one of them, tilting a mirror, combs her cloud of hair
And chooses new scent and a change of silk raiment;
For she sees, between screen-panels, deep in the palace,
Eunuchs in court-dress preparing a bed.

222

七言律诗

秦韬玉

贫女

蓬门未识绮罗香， 拟托良媒益自伤。
谁爱风流高格调， 共怜时世俭梳妆。
敢将十指夸针巧， 不把双眉斗画长。
苦恨年年压金线， 为他人作嫁衣裳。

Seven-character-regular-verse

Qin Taoyu

A POOR GIRL

Living under a thatch roof, never wearing fragrant silk,
She longs to arrange a marriage, but how could she dare?
Who would know her simple face the loveliest of them all
When we choose for worldliness, not for worth?
Her fingers embroider beyond compare,
But she cannot vie with painted brows;
And year after year she has sewn gold thread
On bridal robes for other girls.