Mountain Songs

Nhi River Pavillion

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An old pavillion on the Red River

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Nhi River Pavillion

        Le Hien Tong  ruled. 1744-86

Gentle and fragrant winds
        will brush against
                the plumes of your pennants,
And nowhere in the four quarters
        will you forsake the aim of your lives.
The Phoenix letter
        will distantly reach
                across three translations,
And the peng bird will surge off
        on a myriad-league journey.
For tablet holders
        the courtesy is still extended
        of granting an audience,
For those who return jade
        records are still made
                of honorable reputations.
When the Celestial awe
        distantly disseminates
                it brings reverence to our dynasty,
On the day you return
        you will be sure to find
                that you are rewarded with glory.

Ěrhétíng

Lí Xiǎnzōng ruled. 1744-1786

Xíxí xiāngfēng fú yǔ jīng,
Sìfāng bùfù zhì píngshēng.
Fèng jiān yáo dá sān zhònyì,
Péng yì chòng kāi wànlǐ chéng.
Guī zhí yóu chuí shēn dí lǐ,
Bì wán shàng jì shàn gāomíng.
Tiān wēi yuǎnbō cháo zēng zhòng,
Huí rí xíng kàn dié chǒng róng.

Translator: Liam Kelley 翻譯者

Notes:
"At a ford on the Nhi River (Red River) to the northeast of Thang Long Citadel (today's Hanoi) was a pavilion known as the Nhi River Pavilion 珥河亭, Nhi Ha Dinh, or sometimes called the Eastern Ferry Pavilion 東津亭, Dong Tan Dinh.This pavillion was initially constructed as a place for Northern envoys to lodge and rest. However it was also used by Southern officials to send envoys off on missions to the North.

In 1744, when Nguyen Tong Khue was about to set off to the North as a vice envoy, the Southern ruler, Le Hien Tong 黎顯宗 (r. 1744-86), presented Khue and the chief envoy on this mission, Nguyen Hao Hien 阮浩軒, with this poem."

From Liam Kelley's great book, Beyond The Bronze Pillars, Envoy Poetry and the Sino-Vietnamese Relationship, U of Hawaii Press.