To-do list, and why its contents remain undone

Y'all might know how much I love certain things: Twin Peaks, D&D, heavy metal, Herman Melville, cats, Buffy, Philip K. Dick, Community, Ezra Pound, the late '90s, classical Chinese, wood panelling, comics, cigarettes, Zen Buddhism, the X-Files, und so weiter. So, you say (if "you" exist in an alternate universe where anything I say is somehow worth more than the late-night energy it took to write it), why don't you write something about it?

Good question. Long story short: I have nothing new or interesting to add to any of the thousands, or more likely millions, of words spoken and written about those topics. I can ramble on about how much they all mean to me, but that's pretty much it.

I'm cool with that. As time passes, the less I feel compelled to foist my opinions on the world, despite the sense that the world is often in need of some taste. I'll just be here, doing whatever it is I do, and should I be needed, y'all know where to find me.

袁宏道－偶作赠方子／Yuan Hongdao- "Written by chance and presented to Master Fang"

As I blathered about a couple posts ago, classical Chinese has been an ongoing interest of mine for the past year or so. In that time I've translated a few things as part of the learning process (which will never, ever end). Yesterday I spent my afternoon with a couple textbooks, a Chinese dictionary, and Zongqi Cai's How to Read Chinese Poetry, wherein I found the following poem by Yuan Hongdao. It took a little while for me to realize that this is the same Yuan Hongdao featured so prominently in Pilgrim of the Clouds, a book of Ming Dynasty poetry and prose translated by Jonathan Chaves that I picked up some time ago and have enjoyed ever since. (It turns out that each of the poets and writers included is one of the Yuan brothers, which, given their reputation, isn't as strange as it sounds.)

I don't believe this poem is included in that volume, so, for my own benefit and that of anyone who happens to be a fan of Chinese poetry, I give you the original, my humble translation thereof, and some notes that might help clarify the references. Please don't forget that I'm just an appreciative amateur, not an expert; that said, any improper transcription of characters and/or inaccurate translation falls squarely on my shoulders.


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偶作赠方子
袁宏道

一瓶一笠一條蓑
善操吳音與楚歌
鴛鴦頭白為情多
腰間珮玦千年物
醉後顛書十丈波
近日裁詩心轉細
每將長句學東坡

a jug, a hat, and a
     grass rain cape
I've got a good grasp on the sounds of Wu
     and songs of Chu

the wild crane's spirit is pure
     because his bones are old
the mandarin duck's head white
     for its love is plentiful

the jade pendants and rings around my waist
     will last a thousand years
when I'm drunk my brush strokes become
     hundred-foot waves

these days my mind turns to details
     when writing poetry
but as for long lines
     I learn from Dongpo

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As I understand, and personally interpret, such things:

-The jug, hat, and rain cape are symbols of the itinerant/hermit's life- i.e., simplicity and escape from society's bonds. (This kind of association is super-common in Chinese poetry, even if the poet isn't living that kind of life, which he usually isn't.)

-The songs of Wu and Chu are folk songs of a kind. Since the poet knows them well, it implies further separation from "polite" society.

-Cranes symbolize something I don't remember, and mandarin ducks are a symbol of conjugal love.

-I read the "jade pendants and rings" bit (by the way, those "rings" are not rings per se, but a kind of torc) as the poet being a man of learning and taste who has given up that life in favor of doing as he pleases, but retains the emblems of his past.

-Dongpo is Su Shi 苏轼, AKA Su Dongpo 苏東坡, a towering figure of Song Dynasty poetry and letters. Once I read some of his work I can form an opinion, but if Yuan Hongdao digs him, odds are I will too.

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I intend to keep finding poems or prose I like, translating it, and posting it here. I love this stuff, and I hope to pass it along in the hopes that others will feel the same deep connection.

敬祝
史大偉