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Saturday, April 26, 2014

Japanese Poems of the Heian Period and Before: My Translations to English


Now out of the dark
onto the path of darkness
unwilling I go.

Linger to shine on me, moon,
poised at the rim of the hill.
    --Izumi Shikibu




Only for you, lord,
am I out here in spring fields,
pulling early greens,

with snow falling
thick on my sleeves.
  --Emperor Koko


君がため
春の野に出でて
若菜つむ
わが衣手に
雪はふりつつ

kimi ga tame haru no no ni idete wakana tsumu waga koromode ni yuki wa furi tsutsu 





Almost showed you plum blossoms
that were a light fall of snow.
--Akahito




How few the moments
that my gaze has lit upon
the flowers of spring.

How many the months and days
that I have passed without fruit.
--Fujiwara no Okikase



The sea slips from the shore.
One white wave again stands fast.
A crane in the surf.
--The Emperor Uda



Destinations unknown,
two ships that left harbor
side by side, now diverge.
--Saigyo Hoshi



Before the dubious shrine
I stand dumbstruck and crying.
--Saigyo Hoshi



This world, I try not to see,
still dogs me like a shadow.
--Minamoto no Toshiyori



...to be in this world
the seagull sleeping alone
on the tossing sea...
--Tagaya Masahiro




Leaves fall on the roof,
blurring the silence of night
and the sound of rain.
--Minamoto no Yorizane



Rising and falling, waves
scour the moon in the sea,
effacing nothing.
--Kiyowara Fukayabu




Between the eternals,
the unmoving mountains
and incontinent seas,
we are flowers, quickest
among fleeting flowers.
--Anon.




Long into summer nights
when I think at last of bed
the dawn cuckoo sings
--Tsurayuki



Spring, and a girl is walking
a path in peach blossom light.
     --Otomo no Yakamochi




Foam on the water
I am, that still wants to live
for a thousand years.
--Otomo no Yakamochi




To an empty land
she and I would go and live
alone together.
--Otomo no Yakamochi



Sad to meet in dreams:
My hand reaches out to you
and flounders awake.
--Otomo no Yakamochi




Should we never meet,
and entwine, threads making cord,
now this way, now that,

upon what line shall I string
all the jewels of my life?
--Sakanoe Korenori





Yes, she may not think of me
not ever forgetting her.
--Anon.



Plum trees bloom again.
Empty as a locust shell,
my own springless world.
--Anon.



Love without requite:
a prayer in the temple
behind a starving god.
--Lady Kasa



But by its own call
on the evergreen mountain
the deer knows the fall.
--Onakatomi Yoshinobu



Unmistakably
even here, far south in Tsu,
winter's come at last

to my cottage, hidden down
in a blanket of rushes.
--Minamoto no Shigeyuki



That this day too comes
to dusk:  more clear with each note
of the temple bell.
--Anon.



Unbearably cold,
sanderlings cried in the wind
across the river

the night I went to see her
whom I loved beyond bearing.
--Tsurayuki





Short as a segment
of Naniwa marsh reed,
not even that much

time for us to meet again
on the long passage, is there?
    --Lady Ise



 難波潟 
みじかき芦の
ふしのまも
あはでこの世を
過ぐしてよとや

Naniwa gata mijikaki ashi no fushi no ma mo awade kono yo o sugushite yo to ya 







BARCO NEGRO

Dim in the mist of morning
off the shore of Akashi:
the island hiding the boat
upon which sail all my thoughts.
     --my translation

The fado song, "Barco Negro" always reminds me of this brief poem by Hitomaru.  Here is a very powerful rendition by Mariza.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

EVEN NON-KHMER SPEAKERS SHOULD BE ABLE TO GUESS WHAT THIS IS



Chruuk touch nih tiw psaa.
Chruuk touch nih niw pteah.
Chruuk touch nih nyam sach koo.
Chruuk touch nih kmian sach sah.
Chruuk touch nih yum, “wii, wii, wii,”
haeuy ruet tiw pteah.

Saturday, February 22, 2014

TRANSLATIONS OF SOME CHINESE CLASSICAL POEMS WITH BUDDHIST THEMES



The Temple of Teeming Fragrance,
measureless miles in summit clouds.
Ancient forest, a pathless way.
Deep mountains, directionless bell.
Spring water over jagged rocks.
Yellow sun on cool green pines.
Twilight, winding pool.  Quiet sitting
uncoils the poison dragon of the heart.
     --Wang Wei



Deer Fence


Empty Mountain.
Seeing no one.
Hearing someone's
echoing voice.
The late day sun
enters again
the deep forest,
shining once more
on the green moss.
   --Wang Wei




In my old age, I want only peace.
The ten thousand things are not my concern.
I've no plans for the rest of my life
but to come back to this, my ancient woods.
Piney wind blows my girdle open.
Mountain moon lights upon the lute I play.
So where's the warp and weft of the world?
Fishermen's songs come far up the inlet.
     --Wang Wei




A Buddhist Retreat Behind Broken Mountain Temple

Clear, quiet dawn enters the old temple.
Early sun brightens the forest heights.
Crooked path comes to a secluded space.
A monk's cottage deep in flowers and trees.
Light through the mountains plays over bird flight.
A deep pool mirrors both sky and heart.
Ten thousand sounds of nature are suffused
with the one tone of the temple bell.
     --Chang Jian

Alt:  Ten thousand sounds of nature are resolved
         in the one tone of the temple bell.






TO A JAPANESE MONK RETURNING HOME


Destined to come seeking the source in China.
Your voyage here was like a dream of distance,
floating between heaven and the vast green sea.
Now, the vessel goes lightly that carries the Way.
Water and moon are solitary as your Zen.
Fish and dragons absorb the sound of your chanting.
The single lamp of your compassion, its light
returns to watchers at the heart of the world.
     --Qian Qi




TO SOUTH CREEK SEEKING DAO MAN CHANG IN HIS SECRET PLACE


All along the single path,
footprints in strawberry moss.
White clouds over quiet islands.
Spring grass latching the idle gate.
After rain, the look of the pines.
Up the mountain, the river’s source.
Sitting Zen in flowers by the creek.
Face to face, I forget what to say.
     --Liu Changqing










Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Beginning a translation of Li Shangyin's series, "Poems for Someone"


POEMS FOR SOMEONE


I.

Your coming was an empty promise.
     Your going was without a trace.
At the fifth bell,
     moonlight slanted across the tower
as I wakened from despairing dreams,
     my cries not calling you back.
These pale words, this hasty letter,
     written before the ink could thicken.
One candle lights half the quilt
     with the kingfisher in a golden cage.
A faint scent of musk
     lingers on the embroidered lotus curtain.
Young Master Liu
     raged at the distance to the faerie hill.
But you are ten thousand mountains,
     ten thousand ranges farther.

Friday, November 29, 2013

A New Du Fu Translation


To Li Bai at Sky's End


Cold wind blows from sky's end.
My friend, what's on your mind?
The wild geese come, but do not tell.
Autumn rains swell the waters.
Good writing disdains good fortune.
Demons delight in passing travellers.
Share your thoughts with that despairing soul.
Drop your poems in his drowning river.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

A New Li Bai Translation


TO MENG HAORAN


I love you Meng Fuzi, Master Meng,
free spirit, famous under heaven.
In rosy youth, you spurned cap and carriage.
With snowy head, you lie among clouds and pines,
drunk beneath the moon, remaining the sage,
addled among flowers, serving no lord.
At the foot of your unscaleable heights,
I bow in gathering mountain fragrance.