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?
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