司空圖的"沈著" / Sikong Tu's "Deep in Thought"

I've started working with a friend in Brazil, who's also into Chinese poetry, on translating the 二十四詩品 Twenty-Four Kinds of Poetry, a work attributed to 司空圖 Sikong Tu, into Portuguese. I don't know much about Sikong Tu, and it seems like there's not a lot known about him in the first place, even among Chinese sources. He does have one of the few two-character surnames in China, which is cool.

The only English translation of his work that I've found is by Herbert Giles—yeah, that Giles—and while it's a product of its time, it's nice having it for comparison. Anyway, I figured I'd share my rough English version of the fourth poem in the series. In the future I'll add more, though I'll probably hold off on the Portuguese versions until Paulo and I figure out what the hell we're gonna do with them.

Enjoy!

微臣
史大偉

-----

沈著
司空圖

綠杉野屋，落日氣清
脫巾獨步，時聞鳥聲
鴻雁不來，之子遠行
所思不遠，若為平生
海風碧雲，夜渚月明
如有佳語，大河前橫


-----

"Deep in Thought"
Sikong Tu

In the space between green firs, sunset and clear weather
Head bare, walking alone, when I heard the sound of birds
The geese have not arrived, and she is far away
My thoughts bring her closer, as they have all my life
Blue-green clouds on the sea breeze, bright moon on nighttime islets
You speak fine words, the Yellow River before you running west to east

News from the Southern Front

Sorry for the long absence, folks. The holidays were pretty relaxed, but 2020 is shaping up to be a busy year. I'm talking to a couple publishers about my translation of Súria, Vimala Devi's first book of poems. I'd like to get it into print ASAP, since Vimala is 88 and Súria has been out of print for ages. (I won't publish it without the original Portuguese text.) The book about 18th-century nuns in Goa I've been working on with a colleague since 2017 is about to get turned in, and Routledge should be putting it out later this year. More info on that when I have it. I'll be doing some editing work for a colleague in Portugal, and I'll be translating a book of poetry from Mozambican writer Virgílio de Lemos, too.

But wait, there's more! An old friend and I aim to work together on a comic book, something we've wanted to do since we were ten years old and drawing/writing weird shit that he still has, safe in sound in that same fifth grade Trapper Keeper. I've got another writing project—actual writing, not just translating—that I've been tapping away at now and then, and with any luck I'll make the time to bang out the rest of it and see if any publishers bite. Oh, and I'm working with a friend in Brazil on translating Tang dynasty poet 司空圖 Sikong Tu's 二十四詩品 Twenty-Four Kinds of Poetry into Portuguese.

Add to this all the DSA and related political shit I've been and will be doing for the foreseeable future, and you're looking at a corpse with his hands full. It's cool, though. I've got the new Yuri Gagarin album, The Outskirts of Reality, to provide a soundtrack, the mind-blowingly excellent game Disco Elysium to play when I need a break, and plenty of books to read. I'll survive.

Take it easy, dudes. I'll be back soon with, well, I don't know. Something!