Mountain Songs

Writing Again On The Same Theme

Search

About us

Contact us

Xianglufeng by Bai's cottage on Lushan.

Slideshow Google Map Timeline Timemap Text Mode Comments (0)

Writing Again On The Same Theme

Bai Juyi 722-846

The sun's high
        I've slept enough
                still too lazy to get up;
in a little room
        quilts piled on
                I'm not afraid of the cold.
The bell of the Temple of Bequeathed Love
        I prop up my pillow to listen;
snow on Incense Burner Peak
        rolling up the blind, I look at it.
K'uang's Mount Lu
        a place for running away from fame;
marshal
        a fitting post to spend old age in.
Mind peaceful
        body at rest
                this is where I belong.
Why should I always think of Ch'ang-an as home?

Chóng Tí

Bái Jūyì 722-846

Rì gāo shuì zú yóu yōng qǐ,
Xiǎo gé chóng qīn bú pà hán.
Yíài Sì zhōng yī zhěn tīng,
Xiānglú Fēng xuě bō lián kàn.
Kuānglú biàn shì táo míng dì,
Sīmǎ réng wèi sòng lǎo guān.
Xīn tài shēn níng shì guīchù,
Gūxiāng hé dú zài Cháng'ān.

Translator: Burton Watson 華茲生

Notes:
1. "The same theme" refers to Mountain Dwelling.
2. This poem is the third of a set of four poems with this title that continue the description of Bai's Mountain Lu house.

From Burton Watson's book of translations of Bai Juyi poems; Po Chu-I Selected Poems, Columbia University Press