李長吉的 "仙人" / Li Changji's "Immortals"

Time for another 李賀/李長吉 Li He/Li Changji poem. I haven't decided which name to use, because he's better known in the West by his given name (Li He), but Li Changji, his courtesy name, seems more common in Chinese texts.

As far as annotation goes, this poem doesn't require a whole lot. J.D. Frodsham, citing a Chinese commentator, says that the poem is mocking the so-called immortals (in this case, Taoist alchemists peddling longevity elixirs and the like) that thronged to the court of 唐憲宗 Emperor Xianzong of the Tang dynasty, who ruled during Li He's lifetime. True immortals, i.e., Taoist recluses in pursuit of a more philosophical/spiritual "immortality", would not bother with such things. The mentions of Emperor Wu, who ruled some eight hundred years earlier and was similarly preoccupied with immortality, and peach blossoms, which are related to the Peaches of Immortality, serve as thinly veiled jabs at the absurdity and fraud afoot in Xianzong's court, in the oblique way so common to classical Chinese. The simurgh (or luán) is a mythical bird, not unlike the phoenix (and often associated with it; 鸞鳳 can mean "husband and wife").

By the way, I was pleased to find more of Li He's poetry discussed on one of my favorite blogs, Essays in Idleness (which takes its name from a compelling medieval Japanese book, the Tsurezuregusa, which I highly recommend). Check it out, along with Doug's other writings on Buddhism, Dune, Japanese culture, and language-learning.

Enjoy!
微臣
史大偉



仙人
李賀

彈琴石壁上，翻翻一仙人
手持白鸞尾，夜掃南山雲
鹿飲寒澗下，魚歸清海濱
當時漢武帝，書報桃花春


"Immortals"
Li He

Plucking a zither, an immortal flies above the rocky cliffs
Clutching a simurgh's white tail feathers, by night he sweeps clouds from South Mountain
Deer drink from the cold stream below, fish return home to the sea's clear shore
But in the past Emperor Wu of Han received word of the spring's peach blossoms

Su Shi's "Mid-Autumn Moon"/蘇軾的＂中秋月＂

In honor of tonight's dinner, (東坡肉 Dongpo pork, currently simmering on the stove in a repurposed and slightly broken tagine), I've decided to hastily translate a poem by 蘇軾 Su Shi, AKA 蘇東坡 Su Dongpo. Su Shi was mentioned in a previous poem I translated, but I never got around to reading his stuff- until now, that is, when the presence of mid-autumn (or "mid-autumn", since it's still warm here, and 中秋節 the Mid-Autumn Festival has long since passed) and a dish named after him remind me of his existence.

Now, while it may be a hasty translation, something about this poem of Su's writing struck me as pretty straightforward, which made for a fairly quick read. These can't be the "long lines" that 袁宏道 Yuan Hongdao attributed to Su Shi, since to my untrained eyes there's only one blatantly poetic reference, and there are only seven characters per line, which leaves me wondering what Yuan meant. Guess I'll have to read more of Su's poetry.
 
That's about it for now, since dinner's on the stove. My apologies for any mix-ups between traditional and simplified characters, or other transcription problems. Enjoy, dear reader.


中秋月
蘇軾 (蘇東坡)者

暮雲收溢盡清寒
銀漢無聲轉玉盤
此生此夜不長好
明年明月何處看

"Mid-Autumn Moon"
Su Shi/Su Dongpo

Sunset clouds pile up in the distance; all is cold and clear.
The Milky Way is silent; I turn to the jade disc of the moon.
This life, this night, will not last;
Where will I watch the moon next year?