君問歸期未有期，巴山夜雨漲秋池。
　　何當共剪西窗燭，卻話巴山夜雨時。

　　You ask me when I am coming. I do not know.
　　I dream of your mountains and autumn pools brimming all night with the rain.
　　Oh, when shall we be trimming wicks again, together in your western window?
　　When shall I be hearing your voice again, all night in the rain?

　　深居俯夾城，
　　春去夏猶清。
　　天意憐幽草，
　　人間重晚晴。
　　並添高閣回，
　　微註小窗明。
　　越鳥巢幹後，
　　歸飛體更輕。

　　元和天子神武姿，彼何人哉軒與羲。
　　誓將上雪列聖恥，坐法宮中朝四夷。
　　淮西有賊五十載，封狼生貙貙生羆。
　　不據山河據平地，長戈利矛日可麾。
　　帝得聖相相曰度，賊斫不死神扶持。
　　腰懸相印作都統，陰風慘澹天王旗。
　　愬武古通作牙爪，儀曹外郎載筆隨。
　　行軍司馬智且勇，十四萬衆猶虎貔。
　　入蔡縛賊獻太廟，功無與讓恩不訾。
　　帝曰汝度功第一，汝從事愈宜為辭。
　　愈拜稽首蹈且舞，金石刻畫臣能為。
　　古者世稱大手筆，此事不係於職司。
　　當仁自古有不讓，言訖屢頷天子頤。
　　公退齋戒坐小閣，濡染大筆何淋漓。
　　點竄堯典舜典字，塗改清廟生民詩。
　　文成破體書在紙，清晨再拜鋪丹墀。
　　表曰臣愈昧死上，詠神聖功書之碑。
　　碑高三丈字如鬥，負以靈鰲蟠以螭。
　　句奇語重喻者少，讒之天子言其私。
　　長繩百尺拽碑倒，粗沙大石相磨治。
　　公之斯文若元氣，先時已入人肝脾。
　　湯盤孔鼎有述作，今無其器存其辭。
　　嗚呼聖王及聖相，相與烜赫流淳熙。
　　公之斯文不示後，曷與三五相攀追。
　　願書萬本誦萬遍，口角流沫右手胝。
　　傳之七十有二代，以為封禪玉檢明堂基。

　　The Son of Heaven in Yuanhe times was martial as a god
　　And might be likened only to the Emperors Xuan and Xi.
　　He took an oath to reassert the glory of the empire,
　　And tribute was brought to his palace from all four quarters.
　　Western Huai for fifty years had been a bandit country,
　　Wolves becoming lynxes, lynxes becoming bears.
　　They assailed the mountains and rivers, rising from the plains,
　　With their long spears and sharp lances aimed at the Sun.
　　But the Emperor had a wise premier, by the name of Du,
　　Who, guarded by spirits against assassination,
　　Hong at his girdle the seal of state, and accepted chief command,
　　While these savage winds were harrying the flags of the Ruler of Heaven.
　　Generals Suo, Wu, Gu, and Tong became his paws and claws;
　　Civil and military experts brought their writingbrushes,
　　And his recording adviser was wise and resolute.
　　A hundred and forty thousand soldiers, fighting like lions and tigers,
　　Captured the bandit chieftains for the Imperial Temple.
　　So complete a victory was a supreme event;
　　And the Emperor said: "To you, Du, should go the highest honour,
　　And your secretary, Yu, should write a record of it."
　　When Yu had bowed his head, he leapt and danced, saying:
　　"Historical writings on stone and metal are my especial art;
　　And, since I know the finest brush-work of the old masters,
　　My duty in this instance is more than merely official,
　　And I should be at fault if I modestly declined."
　　The Emperor, on hearing this, nodded many times.
　　And Yu retired and fasted and, in a narrow workroom,
　　His great brush thick with ink as with drops of rain,
　　Chose characters like those in the Canons of Yao and Xun,
　　And a style as in the ancient poems Qingmiao and Shengmin.
　　And soon the description was ready, on a sheet of paper.
　　In the morning he laid it, with a bow, on the purple stairs.
　　He memorialized the throne: "I, unworthy,
　　Have dared to record this exploit, for a monument."
　　The tablet was thirty feet high, the characters large as dippers;
　　It was set on a sacred tortoise, its columns flanked with ragons....
　　The phrases were strange with deep words that few could understand;
　　And jealousy entered and malice and reached the Emperor --
　　So that a rope a hundred feet long pulled the tablet down
　　And coarse sand and small stones ground away its face.
　　But literature endures, like the universal spirit,
　　And its breath becomes a part of the vitals of all men.
　　The Tang plate, the Confucian tripod, are eternal things,
　　Not because of their forms, but because of their inscriptions....
　　Sagacious is our sovereign and wise his minister,
　　And high their successes and prosperous their reign;
　　But unless it be recorded by a writing such as this,
　　How may they hope to rival the three and five good rulers?
　　I wish I could write ten thousand copies to read ten thousand times,
　　Till spittle ran from my lips and calluses hardened my fingers,
　　And still could hand them down, through seventy-two generations,
　　As corner-stones for Rooms of Great Deeds on the Sacred Mountains.

　　本以高難飽，徒勞恨費聲。
　　五更疏欲斷，一樹碧無情。
　　薄宦梗猶泛，故園蕪已平。
　　煩君最相警，我亦舉傢清。

　　Pure of heart and therefore hungry,
　　All night long you have sung in vain –
　　Oh, this final broken indrawn breath
　　Among the green indifferent trees!
　　Yes, I have gone like a piece of driftwood,
　　I have let my garden fill with weeds....
　　I bless you for your true advice
　　To live as pure a life as yours.

　　凄涼寶劍篇，羈泊欲窮年。
　　黃葉仍風雨，青樓自管弦。
　　新知遭薄俗，舊好隔良緣。
　　心斷新豐酒，銷愁又幾千。

　　I ponder on the poem of The Precious Dagger.
　　My road has wound through many years.
　　...Now yellow leaves are shaken with a gale;
　　Yet piping and fiddling keep the Blue Houses merry.
　　On the surface, I seem to be glad of new people;
　　But doomed to leave old friends behind me,
　　I cry out from my heart for Xinfeng wine
　　To melt away my thousand woes.

　　高閣客竟去，小園花亂飛。
　　參差連麯陌，迢遞送斜暉。
　　腸斷未忍掃，眼穿仍欲歸。
　　芳心嚮春盡，所得是沾衣。

　　Gone is the guest from the Chamber of Rank,
　　And petals, confused in my little garden,
　　Zigzagging down my crooked path,
　　Escort like dancers the setting sun.
　　Oh, how can I bear to sweep them away?
　　To a sad-eyed watcher they never return.
　　Heart's fragrance is spent with the ending of spring
　　And nothing left but a tear-stained robe.

　　客去波平檻，蟬休露滿枝。
　　永懷當此節，倚立自移時。
　　北斗兼春遠，南陵寓使遲。
　　天涯占夢數，疑誤有新知。

　　You are gone. The river is high at my door.
　　Cicadas are mute on dew-laden boughs.
　　This is a moment when thoughts enter deep.
　　I stand alone for a long while.
　　...The North Star is nearer to me now than spring,
　　And couriers from your southland never arrive –
　　Yet I doubt my dream on the far horizon
　　That you have found another friend.

　　殘陽西入崦，茅屋訪孤僧。
　　落葉人何在，寒雲路幾層。
　　獨敲初夜磬，閑倚一枝藤。
　　世界微塵裏，吾寧愛與憎。

　　Where the sun has entered the western hills,
　　I look for a monk in his little straw hut;
　　But only the fallen leaves are at home,
　　And I turn through chilling levels of cloud
　　
　　I hear a stone gong in the dusk,
　　I lean full-weight on my slender staff
　　How within this world, within this grain of dust,
　　Can there be any room for the passions of men?

　　錦瑟無端五十弦，一弦一柱思華年。
　　莊生曉夢迷蝴蝶，望帝春心托杜鵑。
　　滄海月明珠有淚，藍田日暖玉生煙。
　　此情可待成追憶，衹是當時已惘然。

　　I wonder why my inlaid harp has fifty strings,
　　Each with its flower-like fret an interval of youth.
　　...The sage Chuangzi is day-dreaming, bewitched by butterflies,
　　The spring-heart of Emperor Wang is crying in a cuckoo,
　　Mermen weep their pearly tears down a moon-green sea,
　　Blue fields are breathing their jade to the sun....
　　And a moment that ought to have lasted for ever
　　Has come and gone before I knew.

　　昨夜星辰昨夜風，畫樓西畔桂堂東。
　　身無彩鳳雙飛翼，心有靈犀一點通。
　　隔座送鈎春酒暖，分曹射覆蠟燈紅。
　　嗟餘聽鼓應官去，走馬蘭臺類轉蓬。

　　The stars of last night and the wind of last night
　　Are west of the Painted Chamber and east of Cinnamon Hall.
　　...Though I have for my body no wings like those of the bright- coloured phoenix,
　　Yet I feel the harmonious heart-beat of the Sacred Unicorn.
　　Across the spring-wine, while it warms me, I prompt you how to bet
　　Where, group by group, we are throwing dice in the light of a crimson lamp;
　　Till the rolling of a drum, alas, calls me to my duties
　　And I mount my horse and ride away, like a water-plant cut adrift.

　　紫泉宮殿鎖煙霞，欲取蕪城作帝傢。
　　玉璽不緣歸日角，錦帆應是到天涯。
　　於今腐草無螢火，終古垂楊有暮鴉。
　　地下若逢陳後主，豈宜重問後庭花。

　　His Palace of Purple Spring has been taken by mist and cloud,
　　As he would have taken all Yangzhou to be his private domain
　　But for the seal of imperial jade being seized by the first Tang Emperor,
　　He would have bounded with his silken sails the limits of the world.
　　Fire-flies are gone now, have left the weathered grasses,
　　But still among the weeping-willows crows perch at twilight.
　　...If he meets, there underground, the Later Chen Emperor,
　　Do you think that they will mention a Song of Courtyard Flowers?

　　來是空言去絶蹤，月斜樓上五更鐘。
　　夢為遠別啼難喚，書被催成墨未濃。
　　蠟照半籠金翡翠，麝熏微度綉芙蓉。
　　劉郎已恨蓬山遠，更隔蓬山一萬重。

　　You said you would come, but you did not, and you left me with no other trace
　　Than the moonlight on your tower at the fifth-watch bell.
　　I cry for you forever gone, I cannot waken yet,
　　I try to read your hurried note, I find the ink too pale.
　　...Blue burns your candle in its kingfisher-feather lantern
　　And a sweet breath steals from your hibiscus-broidered curtain.
　　But far beyond my reach is the Enchanted Mountain,
　　And you are on the other side, ten thousand peaks away.

　　颯颯東風細雨來，芙蓉塘外有輕雷。
　　金蟾嚙鎖燒香入，玉虎牽絲汲井回。
　　賈氏窺簾韓掾少，宓妃留枕魏王纔。
　　春心莫共花爭發，一寸相思一寸灰。

　　A misty rain comes blowing with a wind from the east,
　　And wheels faintly thunder beyond Hibiscus Pool.
　　...Round the golden-toad lock, incense is creeping;
　　The jade tiger tells, on its cord, of water being drawn
　　A great lady once, from behind a screen, favoured a poor youth;
　　A fairy queen brought a bridal mat once for the ease of a prince and then vanished.
　　...Must human hearts blossom in spring, like all other flowers?
　　And of even this bright flame of love, shall there be only ashes?

　　猿鳥猶疑畏簡書，風雲常為護儲胥。
　　徒令上將揮神筆，終見降王走傳車。
　　管樂有纔原不忝，關張無命欲何如。
　　他年錦裏經祠廟，梁父吟成恨有餘。

　　Monkeys and birds are still alert for your orders
　　And winds and clouds eager to shield your fortress.
　　...You were master of the brush, and a sagacious general,
　　But your Emperor, defeated, rode the prison-cart.
　　You were abler than even the greatest Zhou statesmen,
　　Yet less fortunate than the two Shu generals who were killed in action.
　　And, though at your birth-place a temple has been built to you,
　　You never finished singing your Song of the Holy Mountain

　　相見時難別亦難，東風無力百花殘。
　　春蠶到死絲方盡，臘炬成灰淚始幹。
　　曉鏡但愁雲鬢改，夜吟應覺月光寒。
　　蓬萊此去無多路，青鳥殷勤為探看。

　　Time was long before I met her, but is longer since we parted,
　　And the east wind has arisen and a hundred flowers are gone,
　　And the silk-worms of spring will weave until they die
　　And every night the candles will weep their wicks away.
　　Mornings in her mirror she sees her hair-cloud changing,
　　Yet she dares the chill of moonlight with her evening song.
　　...It is not so very far to her Enchanted Mountain
　　O blue-birds, be listening!-Bring me what she says!

　　悵臥新春白袷衣，白門寥落意多違。
　　紅樓隔雨相望冷，珠箔飄燈獨自歸。
　　遠路應悲春晼晚，殘宵猶得夢依稀。
　　玉璫緘札何由達，萬裏雲羅一雁飛。

　　I am lying in a white-lined coat while the spring approaches,
　　But am thinking only of the White Gate City where I cannot be.
　　...There are two red chambers fronting the cold, hidden by the rain,
　　And a lantern on a pearl screen swaying my lone heart homeward.
　　...The long road ahead will be full of new hardship,
　　With, late in the nights, brief intervals of dream.
　　Oh, to send you this message, this pair of jade earrings! –
　　I watch a lonely wildgoose in three thousand miles of cloud.

　　鳳尾香羅薄幾重，碧文圓頂夜深縫。
　　扇裁月魄羞難掩，車走雷聲語未通。
　　曾是寂寥金燼暗，斷無消息石榴紅。
　　斑騅衹係垂楊岸，何處西南任好風。

　　A faint phoenix-tail gauze, fragrant and doubled,
　　Lines your green canopy, closed for the night....
　　Will your shy face peer round a moon-shaped fan,
　　And your voice be heard hushing the rattle of my carriage?
　　It is quiet and quiet where your gold lamp dies,
　　How far can a pomegranate-blossom whisper?
　　...I will tether my horse to a river willow
　　And wait for the will of the southwest wind.

　　重幃深下莫愁堂，臥後清宵細細長。
　　神女生涯原是夢，小姑居處本無郎。
　　風波不信菱枝弱，月露誰教桂葉香。
　　直道相思了無益，未妨惆悵是清狂。

　　There are many curtains in your care-free house,
　　Where rapture lasts the whole night long.
　　...What are the lives of angels but dreams
　　If they take no lovers into their rooms?
　　...Storms are ravishing the nut-horns,
　　Moon- dew sweetening cinnamon-leaves
　　I know well enough naught can come of this union,
　　Yet how it serves to ease my heart!

　　嚮晚意不適，驅車登古原。
　　夕陽無限好，衹是近黃昏。

　　With twilight shadows in my heart
　　I have driven up among the Leyou Tombs
　　To see the sun, for all his glory,
　　Buried by the coming night.

　　嵩雲秦樹久離居，雙鯉迢迢一紙書。
　　休問梁園舊賓客，茂陵秋雨病相如。

　　I am far from the clouds of Sung Mountain, a long way from trees in Qin;
　　And I send to you a message carried by two carp:
　　– Absent this autumn from the Prince's garden,
　　There's a poet at Maoling sick in the rain.

　　為有雲屏無限嬌，鳳城寒盡怕春宵。
　　無端嫁得金龜婿，辜負香衾事早朝。

　　There is only one Carved-Cloud, exquisite always-
　　Yet she dreads the spring, blowing cold in the palace,
　　When her husband, a Knight of the Golden Tortoise,
　　Will leave her sweet bed, to be early at court.

　　乘興南遊不戒嚴，九重誰省諫書函。
　　春風舉國裁宮錦，半作障泥半作帆。

　　When gaily the Emperor toured the south
　　Contrary to every warning,
　　His whole empire cut brocades,
　　Half for wheel-guards, half for sails.

　　瑤池阿母綺窗開，黃竹歌聲動地哀。
　　八駿日行三萬裏，穆王何事不重來。

　　The Mother of Heaven, in her window by the Jade Pool,
　　Hears The Yellow Bamboo Song shaking the whole earth.
　　Where is Emperor Mu, with his eight horses running
　　Ten thousand miles a day? Why has he never come back?

　　雲母屏風燭影深，長河漸落曉星沉。
　　嫦娥應悔偷靈藥，碧海青天夜夜心。

　　Now that a candle-shadow stands on the screen of carven marble
　　And the River of Heaven slants and the morning stars are low,
　　Are you sorry for having stolen the potion that has set you
　　Over purple seas and blue skies, to brood through the long nights?