君问归期未有期，巴山夜雨涨秋池。
　　何当共剪西窗烛，却话巴山夜雨时。

　　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?

　　深居俯夹城，
　　春去夏犹清。
　　天意怜幽草，
　　人间重晚晴。
　　并添高阁回，
　　微注小窗明。
　　越鸟巢干后，
　　归飞体更轻。

　　元和天子神武姿，彼何人哉轩与羲。
　　誓将上雪列圣耻，坐法宫中朝四夷。
　　淮西有贼五十载，封狼生貙貙生罴。
　　不据山河据平地，长戈利矛日可麾。
　　帝得圣相相曰度，贼斫不死神扶持。
　　腰悬相印作都统，阴风惨澹天王旗。
　　愬武古通作牙爪，仪曹外郎载笔随。
　　行军司马智且勇，十四万众犹虎貔。
　　入蔡缚贼献太庙，功无与让恩不訾。
　　帝曰汝度功第一，汝从事愈宜为辞。
　　愈拜稽首蹈且舞，金石刻画臣能为。
　　古者世称大手笔，此事不系于职司。
　　当仁自古有不让，言讫屡颔天子颐。
　　公退斋戒坐小阁，濡染大笔何淋漓。
　　点窜尧典舜典字，涂改清庙生民诗。
　　文成破体书在纸，清晨再拜铺丹墀。
　　表曰臣愈昧死上，咏神圣功书之碑。
　　碑高三丈字如斗，负以灵鳌蟠以螭。
　　句奇语重喻者少，谗之天子言其私。
　　长绳百尺拽碑倒，粗沙大石相磨治。
　　公之斯文若元气，先时已入人肝脾。
　　汤盘孔鼎有述作，今无其器存其辞。
　　呜呼圣王及圣相，相与烜赫流淳熙。
　　公之斯文不示后，曷与三五相攀追。
　　愿书万本诵万遍，口角流沫右手胝。
　　传之七十有二代，以为封禅玉检明堂基。

　　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.

　　本以高难饱，徒劳恨费声。
　　五更疏欲断，一树碧无情。
　　薄宦梗犹泛，故园芜已平。
　　烦君最相警，我亦举家清。

　　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.

　　凄凉宝剑篇，羁泊欲穷年。
　　黄叶仍风雨，青楼自管弦。
　　新知遭薄俗，旧好隔良缘。
　　心断新丰酒，销愁又几千。

　　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.

　　高阁客竟去，小园花乱飞。
　　参差连曲陌，迢递送斜晖。
　　肠断未忍扫，眼穿仍欲归。
　　芳心向春尽，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.

　　客去波平槛，蝉休露满枝。
　　永怀当此节，倚立自移时。
　　北斗兼春远，南陵寓使迟。
　　天涯占梦数，疑误有新知。

　　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.

　　残阳西入崦，茅屋访孤僧。
　　落叶人何在，寒云路几层。
　　独敲初夜磬，闲倚一枝藤。
　　世界微尘里，吾宁爱与憎。

　　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?

　　锦瑟无端五十弦，一弦一柱思华年。
　　庄生晓梦迷蝴蝶，望帝春心托杜鹃。
　　沧海月明珠有泪，蓝田日暖玉生烟。
　　此情可待成追忆，只是当时已惘然。

　　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.

　　昨夜星辰昨夜风，画楼西畔桂堂东。
　　身无彩凤双飞翼，心有灵犀一点通。
　　隔座送钩春酒暖，分曹射覆蜡灯红。
　　嗟余听鼓应官去，走马兰台类转蓬。

　　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.

　　紫泉宫殿锁烟霞，欲取芜城作帝家。
　　玉玺不缘归日角，锦帆应是到天涯。
　　于今腐草无萤火，终古垂杨有暮鸦。
　　地下若逢陈后主，岂宜重问后庭花。

　　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?

　　来是空言去绝踪，月斜楼上五更钟。
　　梦为远别啼难唤，书被催成墨未浓。
　　蜡照半笼金翡翠，麝熏微度绣芙蓉。
　　刘郎已恨蓬山远，更隔蓬山一万重。

　　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.

　　飒飒东风细雨来，芙蓉塘外有轻雷。
　　金蟾啮锁烧香入，玉虎牵丝汲井回。
　　贾氏窥帘韩掾少，宓妃留枕魏王才。
　　春心莫共花争发，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?

　　猿鸟犹疑畏简书，风云常为护储胥。
　　徒令上将挥神笔，终见降王走传车。
　　管乐有才原不忝，关张无命欲何如。
　　他年锦里经祠庙，梁父吟成恨有余。

　　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

　　相见时难别亦难，东风无力百花残。
　　春蚕到死丝方尽，腊炬成灰泪始干。
　　晓镜但愁云鬓改，夜吟应觉月光寒。
　　蓬莱此去无多路，青鸟殷勤为探看。

　　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!

　　怅卧新春白袷衣，白门寥落意多违。
　　红楼隔雨相望冷，珠箔飘灯独自归。
　　远路应悲春晼晚，残宵犹得梦依稀。
　　玉珰缄札何由达，万里云罗一雁飞。

　　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.

　　凤尾香罗薄几重，碧文圆顶夜深缝。
　　扇裁月魄羞难掩，车走雷声语未通。
　　曾是寂寥金烬暗，断无消息石榴红。
　　斑骓只系垂杨岸，何处西南任好风。

　　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.

　　重帏深下莫愁堂，卧后清宵细细长。
　　神女生涯原是梦，小姑居处本无郎。
　　风波不信菱枝弱，月露谁教桂叶香。
　　直道相思了无益，未妨惆怅是清狂。

　　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!

　　向晚意不适，驱车登古原。
　　夕阳无限好，只是近黄昏。

　　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.

　　嵩云秦树久离居，双鲤迢迢一纸书。
　　休问梁园旧宾客，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.

　　为有云屏无限娇，凤城寒尽怕春宵。
　　无端嫁得金龟婿，辜负香衾事早朝。

　　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.

　　乘兴南游不戒严，九重谁省谏书函。
　　春风举国裁宫锦，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.

　　瑶池阿母绮窗开，黄竹歌声动地哀。
　　八骏日行三万里，穆王何事不重来。

　　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?

　　云母屏风烛影深，长河渐落晓星沉。
　　嫦娥应悔偷灵药，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?