A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems Part 16

Round my waist I wear a double sash: I dream that it binds us both with a same-heart knot.

Did not you know that people hide their love, Like a flower that seems too precious to be picked?

THE FERRY

By the Emperor Ch'ien Wen-ti, of the Liang dynasty, who reigned during the year A.D. 500.

Of marsh-mallows my boat is made, The ropes are lily-roots.

The pole-star is athwart the sky: The moon sinks low.

It's at the ferry I'm plucking lilies.

But it might be the Yellow River-- So afraid you seem of the wind and waves, So long you tarry at the crossing.[40]

[40] A lady is waiting for her lover at the ferry which crosses a small stream. When he does not come, she bitterly suggests that he is as afraid of the little stream as though it were the Yellow River, the largest river in China.

THE WATERS OF LUNG-T'OU

(THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER)

By Hsu Ling (A.D. 507-583)

The road that I came by mounts eight thousand feet: The river that I crossed hangs a hundred fathoms.

The brambles so thick that in summer one cannot pa.s.s!

The snow so high that in winter one cannot climb!

With branches that interlace Lung Valley is dark: Against cliffs that tower one's voice beats and echoes.

I turn my head, and it seems only a dream That I ever lived in the streets of Hsien-yang.

FLOWERS AND MOONLIGHT ON THE SPRING RIVER

By Yang-ti (605-617), emperor of the Sui dynasty

The evening river is level and motionless-- The spring colours just open to their full.

Suddenly a wave carries the moon[41] away And the tidal water comes with its freight of stars.[41]

[41] _I.e._, the reflection in the water.

TCHIREK SONG

Altun (486-566 A.D.) was a Tartar employed by the Chinese in drilling their troops "after the manner of the Huns." He could not read or write. The "Yo Fu Kuang T'i" says: Kao Huan attacked Pi, king of Chou, but lost nearly half his men. Kao Huan fell ill of sadness and Pi, to taunt him, sent out a proclamation, which said:

Kao Huan, that son of a mouse Dared to attack King Pi.

But at the first stroke of sword and bow, The aggressor's plot recoiled on himself.

When this reached Kao Huan's ears, he sat up in bed and tried to comfort his officers. All the n.o.bles were summoned to his room, and Altun was asked to sing them a song about Tchirek, his native land.

He sang:

Tchirek River Lies under the Dark Mountains: Where the sky is like the sides of a tent Stretched down over the Great Steppe.

The sky is gray, gray: And the steppe wide, wide: Over gra.s.s that the wind has battered low Sheep and oxen roam.

"Altun" means "gold" in Tartar. No one could teach him to write the Chinese character for _gold_, till at last some one said: "Draw the roof of your house and then put a few strokes underneath." He thus learnt, in a rough fas.h.i.+on, to write his own name.

CHAPTER V

BUSINESS MEN

By Ch'en Tzu-ang (A.D. 656-698)

Business men boast of their skill and cunning But in philosophy they are like little children.

Bragging to each other of successful depredations They neglect to consider the ultimate fate of the body.

What should they know of the Master of Dark Truth Who saw the wide world in a jade cup, By illumined conception got clear of Heaven and Earth: On the chariot of Mutation entered the Gate of Immutability?

TELL ME NOW

By w.a.n.g Chi (_circa_ A.D. 700)

"Tell me now, what should a man want But to sit alone, sipping his cup of wine?"

I should like to have visitors come and discuss philosophy And not to have the tax-collector coming to collect taxes: My three sons married into good families And my five daughters wedded to steady husbands.

Then I could jog through a happy five-score years And, at the end, need no Paradise.

ON GOING TO A TAVERN

By w.a.n.g Chi

These days, continually fuddled with drink, I fail to satisfy the appet.i.tes of the soul.

But seeing men all behaving like drunkards,[42]

How can I alone remain sober?

[42] Written during the war which preceded the T'ang dynasty.

STONE FISH LAKE

By Yuan Chieh (flourished _circa_ A.D. 740-770).

Yuan Chieh, a contemporary of Li Po, has not hitherto been mentioned in any European book. "His subjects were always original, but his poems are seldom worth quoting," is a Chinese opinion of him.

I loved you dearly, Stone Fish Lake, With your rock-island shaped like a swimming fis.h.!.+

On the fish's back is the Wine-cup Hollow And round the fish,--the flowing waters of the Lake.

The boys on the sh.o.r.e sent little wooden s.h.i.+ps, Each made to carry a single cup of wine.

The island-drinkers emptied the liquor-boats And set their sails and sent them back for more.

On the sh.o.r.es of the Lake were jutting slabs of rock And under the rocks there flowed an icy stream.