Ci Gedichte

8/12/2019 Ci Gedichte

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Tune: The Bodhisattva Foreigner

Recalling now the pleasures of the South,

When I was young in light spring tunic-

Astride my horse by the sloping bridge,

Red-sleeved ones beckoned from every storied house.

By gilt-hinged kingfisher screens,

Drunk, I'd enter the flower groves to spend the night.

Seeing such flower twigs now,

Though gray-haired, I swear I'd not go home.

Wei Chuang

ranslated by ohn imothy Wixted

active literati practitioners of the new genre. He was also the author of the celebrated poem,

Lament of the Lady of Ch'in, an account of the sack of Ch'ang-an by the rebel Huang Ch'ao.

This long, dramatic piece, which was phenomenally popular shortly after its composition, was

lost for over a thousand years and recovered only in this century among the Tun-huang

manuscripts see selections 108 and 266). While living in Szechwan, Wei purchased and lived

in the former house of the great poet Tu u see selection 48).



115 i Yii 3 9

115

Tune: The Crow's Nocturnal Cry

Li Yli (937-978)

Last night there was rain with a soughing wind.

In the air was the sound of autumn,

And the screens and curtains rustled.

Again and again I turned on my pillow,

As the candlelight waned, and the clepsydra stopped dripping.

Nor could I compose myself when I sat up.

Worldly affairs simply drift away

In the wake of the running stream:

Methinks my life is but a floating dream.

Fittest to frequent-

The calm Land of Drunkenness.

Other than it, there's no path

I can bear to travel.

ranslated by Jiaosheng Wang

Li Yti was the last emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty. Apparently ineffective as a ruler,

he was a true esthete. A painter, calligrapher, and lyricist, he favored Buddhism and tried his

best to avoid war. But his dynasty was quickly conquered and replaced by the Sung, with the

result that much of his later verse dwells upon lost glory. Li Yti enlarged the scope of writing in

lyric meters beyond the previously normal confines of the teahouse and women's apartments.

With him, it became possible to use the lyric as a vehicle for writing about such subjects as the

downfall of his own dynasty, the shortness of life, and the futility of human endeavor.

Tune: Beating Silk Floss

Autumn Boudoir

In the sequestered court quiet reigns,Within the small yard not a soul stirs.

LiYli

An intermittent breeze wafts the intermittent thudding of a cold mallet.

There's no helping these drifting notes

That invade my chamber curtains the livelong night

And will not let me go to sleep-

A bright moon looking on.



Tune: Partridge SkyWritten While Banished to Huang-chou

Where the forest breaks,

Hills emerge into view;

Where the walled courtyard is hidden in bamboo,

Su Shih

Obstreperous cicadas riot over a small pond o'ergrown with withered grass.

Frequent is the appearance of white birds looping in the air,

Delicate the fragrance of pink lotus blooms mirrored in water.

Beyond the village houses,

Beside the ancient town,

Cane in hand a leisurely stroll I take

In the wake of the slanting sun.

Thanks to last midnight's bounteous rain,My floating life 1 now enjoys one more day of delicious cool.

ranslated by li osheng Wang

1. An expression meaning precarious life which originates from Chuang Tzu (see selec

tion 9).

Tune: Butterflies Lingering over Flowers

Su Shih

Faded the last red blossoms,

Small the new-born green apricots.

Where emerald waters wind about the house



Swallows are on the wing.

Let willow catkins dwindle after one more blast

There's nowhere on earth but sweet grass will grow.

Within' the wall there's a swing, without the highway.

A passerby without is struck by

A girl's sweet laughter within.

Silence prevails as the laughter fades away,

And the enchanted for the unfeeling enchantress

Can only heave a sigh.

120 Su Shih 32

Translated by liaosheng Wang

Tune: "Water Mode Song"

How many times has the moon shone full?

Lifting my cup I ask the blue sky

In the palaces and towers of Heaven

What season is it tonight, I wonder.

I should like to ride there on the wind,

But I fear I could not stand the cold

Of those crystal domes and jade halls on high.

I rise and dance and make my shadow move:How much nicer it is here

Over vermilion chambers,

Through curtained windows

Shining on the sleepless

The moon should not be blamed.

But why always full when friends are separated?

Men are happy or sad, apart or together,

The moon is obscured or clear, waxing or waning:

In this world perfection seldom comes.

I only hope that we can live long

And both enjoy the moon's beauty, though a thousand miles apart.

(Mid-autumn, 1076, written after an all-night party, very drunk,

remembering my brother, Tzu-yu)

Su Shih



Tune: Fragrance Fills the Courtyard

Vainglory in Snailhorn,

Petty profit on Flyshead:

t all adds up to effort wasted.

f everything is determined in advance,

Then who is weak who is strong?

With what time I have left before I am old,Let me be irresponsible for a little bit.

In my hundred years

I'd still like to be drunk

Thirty-six thousand times.

Reckon it up

How much can you have,

Su Shih



With worry and grief, wind and rain

Taking away a good half?

But why

Go on till you die, talking about the short end and the big deal?Here we have a fresh breeze and a bright moon,

he moss-mat spread,

he cloud-curtain drawn-

It's good here in the south:

A thousand measures of fine wine

And Fragrance Fills the Courtyard for a song.

ranslated by Tames Robert ightower

l he tune title of this lyric. Compare selection 121 the first lyric.

Tune: Immortal by the River

I drank at night on East Slope, sobered up, got drunk again.

When I came home it was sometime past midnight,

he houseboy was already snoring like thunder.

I pounded on the gate and got no response,

hen leaned on my staff and listened to the river noises.

I have long deplored that this body is not one's own.

When can I forget the restless striving?

he night is late, the wind still, the ripples smooth.

In a little boat I shall put out from here,

Entrusting my remaining days to river and sea.

Su Shih

ranslated by Tames Robert ightower



127

Tune: "Spring in the Ch in Garden"

(About to swear off drinking, he warns the wine

cup to go away)

Cup, you come here

Your old man has been

Looking himself over today.

For years on end he's had a thirst

With a throat like a scorched pot.

Hsin Ch'i-chi (1140-1207)

But now he's ready to go to sleep and snore like thunder.

You say, "Liu Lingl

Was the great philosopher of all time.

Once drunk, what did it matter if he died and was buried on the spot."

A shame you're so ruthless

With your very best friend.

Worse, you're in league with song and dance.

I reckon you are man's worst poison.What's more, the thing we hate, a lot or a little,

Is what we once loved.

Like i Ch'ing-chao (see selection 125), Hsin Ch'i-chi was born in Li-ch'eng (modern

Tsinan, Shantung). He was passionate and insistent in his patriotic advocacy of a more deter

mined effort to recapture the north of China from the Jiirchens who had established the Chin

dynasty there. Hsin was a friend of the renowned neo-Confudan scholar Chu Hsi (1130-1200)

and entertained at his villa near the Fukien-Kiangsi border many of the greatest thinkers and

statesmen of his day. His youthful espousal of Confucian virtues gave way to a more Taoist view

in later life, and he held great store by the writings of Chuang Tzu see selection 9). Hsin was

primarily responsible for developing the lyric as a more erudite, expansive, and allusive genre

than it had been. The most prolific Sung period author of lyrics, of which 626 by him survive,

he also played a large role in the ultimate divorce of the metrical patterns of the genre from their

once musical background. After Hsin, the lyric became a vehicle for the display of technical

virtuosity, where it had once been the voice of popular songs.

1. See selection ll7, second lyric, note 3.



Nothing itself is good or bad,

It's excess makes the trouble.

Here's my ultimatum:Don't stay, go away fast.

I have the strength to dispose of you.

The cup bowed and said,

If you say so, I'll leave;

I'll come again when you call me.

127 Hsin Ch'i-chi

ranslated by lames Robert Hightower

T "P SM 'ne: ure erene USle

ural Life

Low hang the eaves of the thatched hut,

Green, green grows the grass beside the brook.

Hsin Ch'i-chi

To whose family belongs that tipsy white-haired couple,

Chatting and merry-making in the dulcet accents of the south?

Their eldest son is hoeing the bean-field east of the brook,

The second is busy weaving a hen-coop;

But the one they think most lovable is the youngest, that scamp of a boy:Lo he is sprawled on the bank peeling lotus pods

ranslated by liaosheng Wang



Tune: The Bodhisattva's Golden Headdress

Past Yil-ku Tower glides the river Ch ingl-

Laden with tears shed by how many suffering wayfarers?

And I gaze northwest toward the lost capital,

To my dismay barred by countless intervening hills.

Futile for green hills to bar the way

To the east the river ever freely flows.

But my heart is heavy as evening descends on the stream,

To hear partridges calling deep in the hills.

Hsin Ch'i-chi

ranslated by iaosheng Wang

l A famous scenic spot of Sung Times overlooking the Ch'ing river, where the fleeing

Northern Sung empress dowager escaped capture by the invaders, who wrought great havoc

among the people.



achder Melodie » ie Flußfee«

Am Osthang hab ich nachts gezecht;

kaum wach, schon wieder trunken.

Zur dritten Stunde wars, da bin ich heimgekehrt,

Und an das Tor hab ich gepocht .-

nicht einen hats gestört:

Die Diener schnarchten schon mit Donnergrollen.

Auf meinen Stock gestützt, hab ich dem Flusse zugehört.

o lang hats mich gegrämt,

daß dieser Leib nicht ist mein eigen.

Wann werd vergessen ich all das geschäftge Streben?

Der Wind hat sich gelegt;

des Wassers Seidenflor liegt eben.

Ach, könnt ich fort von hier im kleinen Boot

Auf Strom un Meer beenden so mein Leben

Su DUNG PO

I 0 3 7 I I 0 2

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