287

七言绝句

朱庆余

宫词

寂寂花时闭院门， 美人相并立琼轩。
含情欲说宫中事， 鹦鹉前头不敢言。

Seven-character-quatrain

Zhu Qingyu

A SONG OF THE PALACE

Now that the palace-gate has softly closed on its flowers,
Ladies file out to their pavilion of jade,
Abrim to the lips with imperial gossip
But not daring to breathe it with a parrot among them.

288

七言绝句

朱庆余

近试上张水部

洞房昨夜停红烛， 待晓堂前拜舅姑。
妆罢低声问夫婿， 画眉深浅入时无。

Seven-character-quatrain

Zhu Qingyu

ON THE EVE OF GOVERNMENT EXAMINATIONS
TO SECRETARY ZHANG

Out go the great red wedding-chamber candles.
Tomorrow in state the bride faces your parents.
She has finished preparing; she asks of you meekly
Whether her eyebrows are painted in fashion.

289

七言绝句

杜牧

将赴吴兴登乐游原

清时有味是无能， 闲爱孤云静爱僧。
欲把一麾江海去， 乐游原上望昭陵。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

I CLIMB TO THE LEYOU TOMBS
BEFORE LEAVING FOR WUXING

Even in this good reign, how can I serve?
The lone cloud rather, the Buddhist peace....
Once more, before crossing river and sea,
I face the great Emperor's mountain-tomb.

290

七言绝句

杜牧

赤壁

折戟沈沙铁未销， 自将磨洗认前朝。
东风不与周郎便， 铜雀春深锁二乔。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

BY THE PURPLE CLIFF

On a part of a spear still unrusted in the sand
I have burnished the symbol of an ancient kingdom....
Except for a wind aiding General Zhou Yu,
Spring would have sealed both Qiao girls in CopperBird Palace.

291

七言绝句

杜牧

泊秦淮

烟笼寒水月笼沙， 夜泊秦淮近酒家。
商女不知亡国恨， 隔江犹唱后庭花。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

A MOORING ON THE QIN HUAI RIVER

Mist veils the cold stream, and moonlight the sand,
As I moor in the shadow of a river-tavern,
Where girls, with no thought of a perished kingdom,
Gaily echo A Song of Courtyard Flowers.

292

七言绝句

杜牧

寄扬州韩绰判官

青山隐隐水迢迢， 秋尽江南草未凋。
二十四桥明月夜， 玉人何处教吹箫。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

A MESSAGE TO HAN CHO THE YANGZHOU MAGISTRATE

There are faint green mountains and far green waters,
And grasses in this river region not yet faded by autumn;
And clear in the moon on the Twenty-Four Bridges,
Girls white as jade are teaching flute-music.

293

七言绝句

杜牧

遣怀

落魄江湖载酒行， 楚腰纤细掌中轻。
十年一觉扬州梦， 赢得青楼薄幸名。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

A CONFESSION

With my wine-bottle, watching by river and lake
For a lady so tiny as to dance on my palm,
I awake, after dreaming ten years in Yangzhou,
Known as fickle, even in the Street of Blue Houses.

294

七言绝句

杜牧

秋夕

银烛秋光冷画屏， 轻罗小扇扑流萤。
天阶夜色凉如水， 坐看牵牛织女星。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

IN THE AUTUMN NIGHT

Her candle-light is silvery on her chill bright screen.
Her little silk fan is for fireflies....
She lies watching her staircase cold in the moon,
And two stars parted by the River of Heaven.

295

七言绝句

杜牧

赠别之一

娉娉袅袅十三余， 豆蔻梢头二月初。
春风十里扬州路， 卷上珠帘总不如。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

PARTING I

She is slim and supple and not yet fourteen,
The young spring-tip of a cardamon-spray.
On the Yangzhou Road for three miles in the breeze
Every pearl-screen is open. But there's no one like her.

296

七言绝句

杜牧

赠别之二

多情却似总无情， 唯觉樽前笑不成。
蜡烛有心还惜别， 替人垂泪到天明。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

Parting II

How can a deep love seem deep love,
How can it smile, at a farewell feast?
Even the candle, feeling our sadness,
Weeps, as we do, all night long.

297

七言绝句

杜牧

金谷园

繁华事散逐香尘， 流水无情草自春。
日暮东风怨啼鸟， 落花犹似坠楼人。

Seven-character-quatrain

Du Mu

THE GARDEN OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY

Stories of passion make sweet dust,
Calm water, grasses unconcerned.
At sunset, when birds cry in the wind,
Petals are falling like a girl s robe long ago.

298

七言绝句

李商隐

夜雨寄北

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。

Seven-character-quatrain

Li Shangyin

NOTE ON A RAINY NIGHT TO A FRIEND IN THE NORTH

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?

299

七言绝句

李商隐

寄令狐郎中

嵩云秦树久离居， 双鲤迢迢一纸笔。
休问梁园旧宾客， 茂陵秋雨病相如。

Seven-character-quatrain

Li Shangyin

A MESSAGE TO SECRETARY LINGHU

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.

300

七言绝句

李商隐

为有

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。

Seven-character-quatrain

Li Shangyin

THERE IS ONLY ONE

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.

301

七言绝句

李商隐

隋宫

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。

Seven-character-quatrain

Li Shangyin

THE SUI PALACE

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

302

七言绝句

李商隐

瑶池

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。

Seven-character-quatrain

LI SHANGYIN

THE JADE POOL

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?

303

七言绝句

李商隐

嫦娥

云母屏风烛影深， 长河渐落晓星沈。
嫦娥应悔偷灵药， 碧海青天夜夜心。

Seven-character-quatrain

Li Shangyin

TO THE MOON GODDESS

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?

304

七言绝句

李商隐

贾生

宣室求贤访逐臣， 贾生才调更无伦。
可怜夜半虚前席， 不问苍生问鬼神。

Seven-character-quatrain

Li Shangyin

JIASHENG

When the Emperor sought guidance from wise men, from exiles,
He found no calmer wisdom than that of young Jia
And assigned him the foremost council-seat at midnight,
Yet asked him about gods, instead of about people.

305

七言绝句

温庭筠

瑶瑟怨

冰簟银床梦不成， 碧天如水夜云轻。
雁声远过潇湘去， 十二楼中月自明。

Seven-character-quatrain

Wen Tingyun

SHE SIGHS ON HER JADE LUTE

A cool-matted silvery bed; but no dreams....
An evening sky as green as water, shadowed with tender clouds;
But far off over the southern rivers the calling of a wildgoose,
And here a twelve-story building, lonely under the moon.

306

七言绝句

郑畋

马嵬坡

玄宗回马杨妃死， 云雨难忘日月新。
终是圣明天子事， 景阳宫井又何人。

Seven-character-quatrain

Zheng Tian

ON MAWEI SLOPE

When the Emperor came back from his ride they had murdered Lady Yang --
That passion unforgettable through all the suns and moons
They had led him to forsake her by reminding him
Of an emperor slain with his lady once, in a well at Jingyang Palace.

307

七言绝句

韩偓

已凉

碧阑干外绣帘垂， 猩色屏风画折枝。
八尺龙须方锦褥， 已凉天气未寒时。

Seven-character-quatrain

Han Wu

COOLER WEATHER

Her jade-green alcove curtained thick with silk,
Her vermilion screen with its pattern of flowers,
Her eight- foot dragon-beard mat and her quilt brocaded in squares
Are ready now for nights that are neither warm nor cold.

308

七言绝句

韦庄

金陵图

江雨霏霏江草齐， 六朝如梦鸟空啼。
无情最是台城柳， 依旧烟笼十里堤。

Seven-character-quatrain

Wei Zhuang

A NANJING LANDSCAPE

Though a shower bends the river-grass, a bird is singing,
While ghosts of the Six Dynasties pass like a dream
Around the Forbidden City, under weeping willows
Which loom still for three miles along the misty moat.

309

七言绝句

陈陶

陇西行

誓扫匈奴不顾身， 五千貂锦丧胡尘。
可怜无定河边骨， 犹是深闺梦里人。

Seven-character-quatrain

Chen Tao

TURKESTAN

Thinking only of their vow that they would crush the Tartars- -
On the desert, clad in sable and silk, five thousand of them fell....
But arisen from their crumbling bones on the banks of the river at the border,
Dreams of them enter, like men alive, into rooms where their loves lie sleeping.

310

七言绝句

张泌

寄人

别梦依依到谢家， 小廊回合曲阑斜。
多情只有春庭月， 犹为离人照落花。

Seven-character-quatrain

Zhang Bi

A MESSAGE

I go in a dream to the house of Xie
Through a zigzag porch with arching rails
To a court where the spring moon lights for ever
Phantom flowers and a single figure.

311

七言绝句

无名氏

杂诗

尽寒食雨草萋萋， 著麦苗风柳映堤。
等是有家归未得， 杜鹃休向耳边啼。

Seven-character-quatrain

Wumingshi

THE DAY OF NO FIRE

As the holiday approaches, and grasses are bright after rain,
And the causeway gleams with willows, and wheatfields wave in the wind,
We are thinking of our kinsfolk, far away from us.
O cuckoo, why do you follow us, why do you call us home?