SAME-SEX MARRIAGE DEFINED IN

Ross Douthat has a recent series of columns that touch on a lot of my ideas about same-sex marriage. On line, he includes some interesting responses as well. I think that for many people their notion of what marriage is and what marriage is for has more or less insensibly changed over roughly the past two decades. I think that formerly the centrality of the marriage-procreation link seemed so obvious that arguments for same-sex marriage appeared not just wrong, but incoherent--that certainly was the case for me. If society has now moved to the idea that marriage is essentially the union of soul-mates and that procreation, while often associated with marriage, is not central to it, then--for better or for worse-- it should be clear that any two people, regardless of gender, are entitled to participation in the institution.  I prefer the old definition, but so what, if that is not the current definition in society at large?

Marriage, Procreation and Historical Amnesia

douthat.blogs.nytimes.com

Was the marriage-procreation link invented by desperate social conservatives?

CLASSICAL CHINESE POEMS--MY TRANSLATIONS IN ENGLISH

Saying Goodbye on the Plain of Ancient Ruins

Grasses growing lush on the plain

year after year wither and flourish.

No wildfire can consume them all.

In winds of spring they grow again.

Their bright green reaches the far ruined wall.

Their fragrance flows over the ancient road.

Once again we say goodbye here,

a place lush with feelings of parting.

     --Bai Juyi

In the Hills, a Plum Tree Flowers in a Small Garden

Blossoms all have shaken down, and alone

it casts a warm beauty over the garden,

whose slender shadows lie on shallow ponds.

A faint fragrance drifts under a dun moon.

Snowbirds, landing, look again, to see

what dusty butterflies would faint to know.

Lucky me, making friends with whispered verse—

who needs golden goblets or rhythm sticks?

--Liu Bu

Meeting is hard and parting is harder.

The east wind slackens and flowers wither.

The spring silk worm spins silk till it dies.

The wax candle sheds tears till it's ash.

Morning mirror, fretting over disordered hair.

Midnight chanting, not feeling the cold.

Penglai, the faerie mountain, is somewhere near.

Bluebird, would you spy it out for me.

     --Li Shanglin

    Sailing into South Lake

South Lake is the sum of three rivers.

Mount Lu is the master of all hills.

White sand cleans the river course.

Green pines color the crag heads.

When did the water begin to flow?

When did the mountain begin to be?

Human fate is ever changing.

These forms are alone enduring.

In all the near and far of the cosmos,

present becomes past; this order lasts.

    --Chang Fangsheng

    The Cicada

In the first place,

however refined you are

and able to live on wind and dew,

they will never satisfy your hunger.

So why keep up your bitter cry?

By the fifth hour

your voice is weak and hoarse

in the green, indifferent tree.

I'm just a minor functionary,

a drifting twig.

And the old fields at home

lie wasted and full of weeds.

So thank you for reminding me

that my family has a long history

of pure character.

--Li Shangyin

    Thoughts in the Cold

My guests have all gone,

the river rises to my doorstep,

cicadas cease whirring,

branches fill with dew:

a time when you fill my heart,

the time that passes while I stand

still beneath the Big Dipper,

more distant than spring.

Here beyond the edge

of your Nanjing sky

no messenger comes.

I am left with only

my dreams to divine

if you've found a new friend.

--Li Shangyin

	疑 誤 有 新 知	天 涯 占 夢 數	南 陵 寓 使 遲	北 斗 兼 春 遠	倚 立 自 移 時	永 懷 當 此 節	蟬 休 露 滿 枝	客 去 波 平 檻	涼 思

    The Spring Song of Lady Night

The spring woods

hold flowers of great beauty.

The spring birds

cause thoughts of great grief.

The spring breeze has also great feeling,

blowing open

my gauzy silk skirt.

--Anon., 300-600 C.E.

Lost, a whole army,

        before the gates of a city,

the year before last

        fighting the Yuezhi.

Lost, the torn, scattered tents,

        with no one to collect them.

There were only the tattered banners

        on horses straggling back.

Lost, any news of you,

        along the way from Tibet.

What offerings can I make

        if your fate is unknown?  

Lost, you and I to each other,

        whether or not you still live.

I offer these tears

        from far, far away.

          --Zhang Ji

This road here runs

     up to white clouds.

Spring is as long

     as the clear stream.

At times fallen petals

     float by,

flowing off

     on scented water.

My door idles

     on the mountain path.

My study's deep

     in willow shade;

my sleeves, sunlit

     on sunny days.

       --Liu Shenxu

    Autumn Song of Lady Night

Opening the window

to the autumn moon,

she puts out the candle,

slipping off her silk skirt.

And suppressing a smile

within the curtained bed,

she arches her body,

spreading orchid fragrance

    --Anon.

    Playing the Zheng for General Zhou

While playing the zheng

with millet-gold posts,

her fair hands moving

over the jade frame,

hoping that Zhou Yu

will turn and look,

every so often

she plucks the wrong note.

--Li Duan

She, who was in her rooms without sorrow,

turned out for spring, ascends the jade tower,

and, struck by a willow green in the field,

sighs for sending him off to seek titles.

--Wang Chiang-ling

Grasses grow rank around Red Bird Bridge.

Sun sets in the street of mansions.

Swallows from peeling painted eaves

swoop across the doorways of common folk.

--Liu Yuxi

DRINKING ALONE

Wind blows snow straight across the window.

Curl around the stove, open the wine,

and, as a fishing boat in the rain,

Sail asleep down the autumn river. 

      --Du Mu

On the Qinhuai River

With moonlight on sand and mist on cold water,

I tie up by a tavern on the river.

I hear a girl sing, with nothing of his grief,

the captive king's "Blossom of the Inner Court."

--Du Mu

終南望餘雪

祖詠

終(Zhong/End)南(Nan/South)陰(Shade/Lunar)嶺(Peak)秀(fine/beautiful)，

積(Store up/Accumulate)雪(Snow)浮(float)雲(Cloud)端(end/top)。

林(Forest)表(show/reveal)明(Bright)霽(sky blue/clearing)色(Color)，

城(City)中(Inside)增(increase)暮(Sunset)寒(Cold)。

陰嶺: Combination of character means North of a Hill

林表 Combination of character means tips of tree

      --word-for-word tr. Laijan Liu

On Seeing the Snow-Peak of Zhongnan Mountain

Beautiful, the north face of Zhongnan's peak,
piled-up snow above the floating clouds,
bright blue sky shining through the tree tops.
The city below colder with sunset.
     --Zu Young 

Ancient Spirit

Old men there on the River Han,

stiff corpses at the river's mouth,

their white hair wet with yellow mud.

Black ravens come for what remains.

Their cunning we may now forget.

Their selves--or souls--have come to what?

Wind blows, the fishing line snaps,

darting fish are hard to catch.

Islands are bright with white water.

Reeds crowding onto the steep bank

retain a trace of the small boat

now tied at the long river's edge.

Towering dried-up pines, their branches

hold up ropey hanging vines.

Must we depend on things like this?

Survey the world today and see

everywhere all are like you.

A general dies in a great siege.

The Han soldiers still press forward,

a hundred horses on one bit,

ten thousand wheels on one axle.

Are you mainly name or mainly flesh?

Gentlemen, think well on this.

     --Chang Jian, my tr.

Number 14 of the 19 Music Bureau Poems

Gone and daily receding,

coming and daily more near.

Looking straight out the city gate:

mounds and hills, mounds and hills.

Ancient graves are plowed into fields.

Pine and cypress destroyed for kindling.

Winds of sorrow out of white poplars.

Swish-swish, the sound of the axe men.

Dwelling on returning home--

no track, no trace of a road.

No way there from this longing.

Two Poems in Bahasa Indonesia

SORE DI MALIOBORO

Orang-orang, banyak warna.
Abu-abu, kehujanan.
Mantel-mantel, kecil di bawa.


I wrote this as a haiku in English, translated to BH, then lost the original English

Oleh Mengikuti Tanganku, Saya Menulis

Saya menulis "sarang"

dan di itu, burung menjadi terkejut kemudian terbanglah.

Saya menulis "api"

dan lembaran kertas ini tidak ada.

Saya menulis "kegelapan"

dan itu sudah diresapi oleh cahaya.

Saya menulis "kelanggengan"

dan saya menyaksikan berlian sedang mencair.

     --Dai Wei, my tr.

Dai Wei is a contemporary Chinese poet.  I've seen two of her poems and so far have not been able to find any others.

　随手写下
　　　　　　　代薇
当我写下“鸟巢”           

里面的鸟群惊飞了

当我写下“火”
这页纸已不存在

当我写下“黑暗”
它其实已经被照亮

当我写下“永恒”
我就是在目睹钻石的溶化

I hope this translation is better than it ought to be, with my being deficient in both the original language and the target language.  I worked from the English word-by-word and literary translations by Fan Jinghua on his blog, Poetry Chinese.  My Bahasa Indonesia is pretty minimal.  So I had to look up a lot of words and and then retranslate the BH into English again, going back and forth until the English made the sense I was aiming at.  I then accepted the BH that this last English version came from. Very presumptuous and a lot of work.  Anyone competent in Bahasa Indonesia and/or Chinese is welcome to offer criticism, whether constructive or scornful.

You can see Fan's English translation here: http://poetrychinese.blogspot.com/search/label/Dai%20Wei