University of Virginia Library

Seven-character-ancient-verse

七言古詩 陳子昂 登幽州臺歌

前不見古人, 後不見來者;
念天地之悠悠, 獨愴然而涕下。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Chen Ziang ON A GATE-TOWER AT YUZHOU

Where, before me, are the ages that have gone?
And where, behind me, are the coming generations?
I think of heaven and earth, without limit, without end,
And I am all alone and my tears fall down.

七言古詩 李頎 古意

男兒事長征, 少小幽燕客,
賭勝馬蹄下, 由來輕七尺;
殺人莫敢前, 鬚如蝟毛磔。
黃雲隴底白雪飛, 未得報恩不能歸。
遼東小婦年十五, 慣彈琵琶解歌舞,
今為羌笛出塞聲, 使我三軍淚如雨。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi AN OLD AIR

There once was a man, sent on military missions,
A wanderer, from youth, on the You and Yan frontiers.
Under the horses' hoofs he would meet his foes
And, recklessly risking his seven-foot body,
Would slay whoever dared confront
Those moustaches that bristled like porcupinequills.
...There were dark clouds below the hills, there were white clouds above them,
But before a man has served full time, how can he go back?
In eastern Liao a girl was waiting, a girl of fifteen years,
Deft with a guitar, expert in dance and song.
...She seems to be fluting, even now, a reed-song of home,
Filling every soldier's eyes with homesick tears.

七言古詩 李頎 送陳章甫

四月南風大麥黃, 棗花未落桐葉長。
青山朝別暮還見, 嘶馬出門思故鄉。
陳侯立身何坦蕩? 虯鬚虎眉仍大顙。
腹中貯書一萬卷, 不肯低頭在草莽。
東門酤酒飲我曹, 心輕萬事皆鴻毛,
醉臥不知白日暮, 有時空望孤雲高。
長河浪頭連天黑, 津口停舟渡不得;
鄭國遊人未及家, 洛陽行子空嘆息。
聞道故林相識多, 罷官昨日今如何。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi A FAREWELL TO MY FRIEND CHEN ZHANGFU

In the Fourth-month the south wind blows plains of yellow barley,
Date-flowers have not faded yet and lakka-leaves are long.
The green peak that we left at dawn we still can see at evening,
While our horses whinny on the road, eager to turn homeward.
...Chen, my friend, you have always been a great and good man,
With your dragon's moustache, tiger's eyebrows and your massive forehead.
In your bosom you have shelved away ten thousand volumes.
You have held your head high, never bowed it in the dust.
...After buying us wine and pledging us, here at the eastern gate,
And taking things as lightly as a wildgoose feather,
Flat you lie, tipsy, forgetting the white sun;
But now and then you open your eyes and gaze at a high lone cloud.
...The tide-head of the lone river joins the darkening sky.
The ferryman beaches his boat. It has grown too late to sail.
And people on their way from Cheng cannot go home,
And people from Loyang sigh with disappointment.
...I have heard about the many friends around your wood land dwelling.
Yesterday you were dismissed. Are they your friends today?

七言古詩 李頎 琴歌

主人有酒歡今夕, 請奏鳴琴廣陵客。
月照城頭烏半飛, 霜淒萬樹風入衣;
銅鑪華燭燭增輝, 初彈淥水後楚妃。
一聲已動物皆靜, 四座無言星欲稀。
清淮奉使千餘里, 敢告雲山從此始。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi A LUTE SONG

Our host, providing abundant wine to make the night mellow,
Asks his guest from Yangzhou to play for us on the lute.
Toward the moon that whitens the city-wall, black crows are flying,
Frost is on ten thousand trees, and the wind blows through our clothes;
But a copper stove has added its light to that of flowery candles,
And the lute plays The Green Water, and then The Queen of Chu.
Once it has begun to play, there is no other sound:
A spell is on the banquet, while the stars grow thin....
But three hundred miles from here, in Huai, official duties await him,
And so it's farewell, and the road again, under cloudy mountains.

七言古詩 李頎 聽董大彈胡笳聲兼寄語弄房給事

蔡女昔造胡笳聲, 一彈一十有八拍。
胡人落淚沾邊草, 漢使斷腸對歸客。
古戍蒼蒼烽火寒, 大荒沈沈飛雪白。
先拂聲絃後角羽, 四郊秋葉驚摵摵。
董夫子,通神明, 深山竊聽來妖精。
言遲更速皆應手, 將往復旋如有情。
空山百鳥散還合, 萬里浮雲陰且晴。
嘶酸雛雁失群夜, 斷絕胡兒戀母聲。
川為靜其波, 鳥亦罷其鳴;
烏孫部落家鄉遠, 邏娑沙塵哀怨生。
幽音變調忽飄灑, 長風吹林雨墮瓦;
迸泉颯颯飛木末, 野鹿呦呦走堂下。
長安城連東掖垣, 鳳凰池對青瑣門,
高才脫略名與利, 日夕望君抱琴至。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi ON HEARING DONG PLAY THE FLAGEOLET
A POEM TO PALACE-ATTENDANT FANG

When this melody for the flageolet was made by Lady Cai,
When long ago one by one she sang its eighteen stanzas,
Even the Tartars were shedding tears into the border grasses,
And the envoy of China was heart-broken, turning back home with his escort.
...Cold fires now of old battles are grey on ancient forts,
And the wilderness is shadowed with white new-flying snow.
...When the player first brushes the Shang string and the Jue and then the Yu,
Autumn-leaves in all four quarters are shaken with a murmur.
Dong, the master,
Must have been taught in heaven.
Demons come from the deep pine-wood and stealthily listen
To music slow, then quick, following his hand,
Now far away, now near again, according to his heart.
A hundred birds from an empty mountain scatter and return;
Three thousand miles of floating clouds darken and lighten;
A wildgoose fledgling, left behind, cries for its flock,
And a Tartar child for the mother he loves.
Then river waves are calmed
And birds are mute that were singing,
And Wuzu tribes are homesick for their distant land,
And out of the dust of Siberian steppes rises a plaintive sorrow.
...Suddenly the low sound leaps to a freer tune,
Like a long wind swaying a forest, a downpour breaking tiles,
A cascade through the air, flying over tree-tops.
...A wild deer calls to his fellows. He is running among the mansions
In the corner of the capital by the Eastern Palace wall....
Phoenix Lake lies opposite the Gate of Green Jade;
But how can fame and profit concern a man of genius?
Day and night I long for him to bring his lute again.

七言古詩 李頎 聽安萬善吹觱篥歌

南山截竹為觱篥, 此樂本自龜茲出。
流傳漢地曲轉奇, 涼州胡人為我吹;
傍鄰聞者多歎息, 遠客思鄉皆淚垂。
世人解聽不解賞, 長飆風中自來往。
枯桑老柏寒颼飀, 九雛鳴鳳亂啾啾。
龍吟虎嘯一時發, 萬籟百泉相與秋。
忽然更作漁陽摻, 黃雲蕭條白日暗。
變調如聞楊柳春, 上林繁花照眼新。
歲夜高堂列明燭, 美酒一杯聲一曲。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Qi ON HEARING AN WANSHAN PLAY THE REED-PIPE

Bamboo from the southern hills was used to make this pipe.
And its music, that was introduced from Persia first of all,
Has taken on new magic through later use in China.
And now the Tartar from Liangzhou, blowing it for me,
Drawing a sigh from whosoever hears it,
Is bringing to a wanderer's eyes homesick tears....
Many like to listen; but few understand.
To and fro at will there's a long wind flying,
Dry mulberry-trees, old cypresses, trembling in its chill.
There are nine baby phoenixes, outcrying one another;
A dragon and a tiger spring up at the same moment;
Then in a hundred waterfalls ten thousand songs of autumn
Are suddenly changing to The Yuyang Lament;
And when yellow clouds grow thin and the white sun darkens,
They are changing still again to Spring in the Willow Trees.
Like Imperial Garden flowers, brightening the eye with beauty,
Are the high-hall candles we have lighted this cold night,
And with every cup of wine goes another round of music.

七言古詩 孟浩然 夜歸鹿門山歌

山寺鐘鳴晝已昏, 漁梁渡頭爭渡喧;
人隨沙路向江村, 余亦乘舟歸鹿門。
鹿門月照開煙樹, 忽到龐公棲隱處;
巖扉松徑長寂寥, 惟有幽人自來去。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Meng Haoran RETURNING AT NIGHT TO LUMEN MOUNTAIN

A bell in the mountain-temple sounds the coming of night.
I hear people at the fishing-town stumble aboard the ferry,
While others follow the sand-bank to their homes along the river.
...I also take a boat and am bound for Lumen Mountain --
And soon the Lumen moonlight is piercing misty trees.
I have come, before I know it, upon an ancient hermitage,
The thatch door, the piney path, the solitude, the quiet,
Where a hermit lives and moves, never needing a companion.

七言古詩 李白 廬山謠寄盧侍御虛舟

我本楚狂人, 鳳歌笑孔丘。
手持綠玉杖, 朝別黃鶴樓;
五嶽尋仙不辭遠, 一生好入名山遊。
廬山秀出南斗傍, 屏風九疊雲錦張;
影落明湖青黛光, 金闕前開二峰長。
銀河倒挂三石梁, 香爐瀑布遙相望。
迴崖沓障淩蒼蒼, 翠影紅霞映朝日,
鳥飛不到吳天長。
登高壯觀天地間, 大江茫茫去不
[_]

黃雲萬里動風色, 白波九道流雪山。
好為廬山謠, 興因廬山發。
閑窺石鏡清我心, 謝公行處蒼苔沒。
早服還丹無世情, 琴心三疊道初成;
遙見仙人彩雲裡, 手把芙蓉朝玉京。
先期汗漫九垓上, 願接盧敖遊太清。
[_]
又作還

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai A SONG OF LU MOUNTAIN TO CENSOR LU XUZHOU

I am the madman of the Chu country
Who sang a mad song disputing Confucius.
...Holding in my hand a staff of green jade,
I have crossed, since morning at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
All five Holy Mountains, without a thought of distance,
According to the one constant habit of my life.
Lu Mountain stands beside the Southern Dipper
In clouds reaching silken like a nine-panelled screen,
With its shadows in a crystal lake deepening the green water.
The Golden Gate opens into two mountain-ranges.
A silver stream is hanging down to three stone bridges
Within sight of the mighty Tripod Falls.
Ledges of cliff and winding trails lead to blue sky
And a flush of cloud in the morning sun,
Whence no flight of birds could be blown into Wu.
...I climb to the top. I survey the whole world.
I see the long river that runs beyond return,
Yellow clouds that winds have driven hundreds of miles
And a snow-peak whitely circled by the swirl of a ninefold stream.
And so I am singing a song of Lu Mountain,
A song that is born of the breath of Lu Mountain.
...Where the Stone Mirror makes the heart's purity purer
And green moss has buried the footsteps of Xie,
I have eaten the immortal pellet and, rid of the world's troubles,
Before the lute's third playing have achieved my element.
Far away I watch the angels riding coloured clouds
Toward heaven's Jade City, with hibiscus in their hands.
And so, when I have traversed the nine sections of the world,
I will follow Saint Luao up the Great Purity.

七言古詩 李白 夢遊天姥吟留別

海客談瀛洲, 煙濤微茫信難求。
越人語天姥, 雲霓明滅或可睹。
天姥連天向天橫, 勢拔五嶽掩赤城;
天臺四萬八千丈, 對此欲倒東南傾。
我欲因之夢吳越, 一夜飛渡鏡湖月。
湖月照我影, 送我至剡溪;
謝公宿處今尚在, 淥水蕩漾清猿啼。
腳著謝公屐, 身登青雲梯。
半壁見海日, 空中聞天雞。
千巖萬壑路不定, 迷花倚石忽已暝。
熊咆龍吟殷巖泉, 慄深林兮驚層巔。
雲青青兮欲雨, 水澹澹兮生煙。
列缺霹靂, 邱巒崩摧,
洞天石扇, 訇然中開;
青冥浩蕩不見底, 日月照耀金銀臺。
霓為衣兮風為馬, 雲之君兮紛紛而來下;
虎鼓瑟兮鸞回車。 仙之人兮列如麻。
忽魂悸以魄動, 怳驚起而長嗟。
惟覺時之枕席, 失向來之煙霞。
世間行樂亦如此, 古來萬事東流水。
別君去兮何時還? 且放白鹿青崖間。
須行即騎訪名山, 安能摧眉折腰事權貴,
使我不得開心顏?

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai TIANMU MOUNTAIN ASCENDED IN A DREAM

A seafaring visitor will talk about Japan,
Which waters and mists conceal beyond approach;
But Yueh people talk about Heavenly Mother Mountain,
Still seen through its varying deeps of cloud.
In a straight line to heaven, its summit enters heaven,
Tops the five Holy Peaks, and casts a shadow through China
With the hundred-mile length of the Heavenly Terrace Range,
Which, just at this point, begins turning southeast.
...My heart and my dreams are in Wu and Yueh
And they cross Mirror Lake all night in the moon.
And the moon lights my shadow
And me to Yan River --
With the hermitage of Xie still there
And the monkeys calling clearly over ripples of green water.
I wear his pegged boots
Up a ladder of blue cloud,
Sunny ocean half-way,
Holy cock-crow in space,
Myriad peaks and more valleys and nowhere a road.
Flowers lure me, rocks ease me. Day suddenly ends.
Bears, dragons, tempestuous on mountain and river,
Startle the forest and make the heights tremble.
Clouds darken with darkness of rain,
Streams pale with pallor of mist.
The Gods of Thunder and Lightning
Shatter the whole range.
The stone gate breaks asunder
Venting in the pit of heaven,
An impenetrable shadow.
...But now the sun and moon illumine a gold and silver terrace,
And, clad in rainbow garments, riding on the wind,
Come the queens of all the clouds, descending one by one,
With tigers for their lute-players and phoenixes for dancers.
Row upon row, like fields of hemp, range the fairy figures.
I move, my soul goes flying,
I wake with a long sigh,
My pillow and my matting
Are the lost clouds I was in.
...And this is the way it always is with human joy:
Ten thousand things run for ever like water toward the east.
And so I take my leave of you, not knowing for how long.
...But let me, on my green slope, raise a white deer
And ride to you, great mountain, when I have need of you.
Oh, how can I gravely bow and scrape to men of high rank and men of high office
Who never will suffer being shown an honest-hearted face!

七言古詩 李白 金陵酒肆留別

風吹柳花滿店香, 吳姬壓酒喚客嘗;
金陵子弟來相送, 欲行不行各盡觴。
請君試問東流水, 別意與之誰短長?

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai PARTING AT A WINE-SHOP IN NANJING

A wind, bringing willow-cotton, sweetens the shop,
And a girl from Wu, pouring wine, urges me to share it
With my comrades of the city who are here to see me off;
And as each of them drains his cup, I say to him in parting,
Oh, go and ask this river running to the east
If it can travel farther than a friend's love!

七言古詩 李白 宣州謝朓樓餞別校書叔雲

棄我去者, 昨日之日不可留;
亂我心者, 今日之日多煩憂。
長風萬里送秋雁, 對此可以酣高樓。
蓬萊文章建安骨, 中間小謝又清發,
俱懷逸興壯思飛, 欲上青天覽明月。
抽刀斷水水更流, 舉杯銷愁愁
[_]
愁。

人生在世不稱意, 明朝散髮弄扁舟。
[_]
又作復

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Li Bai A FAREWELL TO SECRETARY SHUYUN
AT THE XIETIAO VILLA IN XUANZHOU

Since yesterday had to throw me and bolt,
Today has hurt my heart even more.
The autumn wildgeese have a long wind for escort
As I face them from this villa, drinking my wine.
The bones of great writers are your brushes, in the School of Heaven,
And I am a Lesser Xie growing up by your side.
We both are exalted to distant thought,
Aspiring to the sky and the bright moon.
But since water still flows, though we cut it with our swords,
And sorrows return, though we drown them with wine,
Since the world can in no way answer our craving,
I will loosen my hair tomorrow and take to a fishingboat.

七言古詩 岑參 走馬川行奉送封大夫出師西征

君不見走馬川行雪海邊, 平沙莽莽黃入天。
輪臺九月風夜吼, 一川碎石大如斗,
隨風滿地石亂走。 匈奴草黃馬正肥,
金山西見煙塵飛, 漢家大將西出師。
將軍金甲夜不脫, 半夜軍行戈相撥,
風頭如刀面如割。 馬毛帶雪汗氣蒸,
五花連錢旋作冰, 幕中草檄硯水凝。
虜騎聞之應膽懾, 料知短兵不敢接,
車師西門佇獻捷。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Cen Can A SONG OF RUNNING-HORSE RIVER IN FAREWELL
TO GENERAL FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION

Look how swift to the snowy sea races Running-Horse River! --
And sand, up from the desert, flies yellow into heaven.
This Ninth-month night is blowing cold at Wheel Tower,
And valleys, like peck measures, fill with the broken boulders
That downward, headlong, follow the wind.
...In spite of grey grasses, Tartar horses are plump;
West of the Hill of Gold, smoke and dust gather.
O General of the Chinese troops, start your campaign!
Keep your iron armour on all night long,
Send your soldiers forward with a clattering of weapons!
...While the sharp wind's point cuts the face like a knife,
And snowy sweat steams on the horses' backs,
Freezing a pattern of five-flower coins,
Your challenge from camp, from an inkstand of ice,
Has chilled the barbarian chieftain's heart.
You will have no more need of an actual battle! --
We await the news of victory, here at the western pass!

七言古詩 岑參 輪臺歌奉送封大夫出師西征

輪臺城頭夜吹角, 輪臺城北旄頭落。
羽書昨夜過渠黎, 單于已在金山西。
戍樓西望煙塵黑, 漢兵屯在輪臺北。
上將擁旄西出征, 平明吹笛大軍行。
四邊伐鼓雪海湧, 三軍大呼陰山動。
虜塞兵氣連雲屯, 戰場白骨纏草根。
劍河風急雪片闊, 沙口石凍馬蹄脫。
亞相勤王甘苦辛, 誓將報主靜邊塵。
古來青史誰不見? 今見功名勝古人。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Cen Can A SONG OF WHEEL TOWER IN FAREWELL TO GENERAL
FENG OF THE WESTERN EXPEDITION

On Wheel Tower parapets night-bugles are blowing,
Though the flag at the northern end hangs limp.
Scouts, in the darkness, are passing Quli,
Where, west of the Hill of Gold, the Tartar chieftain has halted
We can see, from the look-out, the dust and black smoke
Where Chinese troops are camping, north of Wheel Tower.
...Our flags now beckon the General farther west -
With bugles in the dawn he rouses his Grand Army;
Drums like a tempest pound on four sides
And the Yin Mountains shake with the shouts of ten thousand;
Clouds and the war-wind whirl up in a point
Over fields where grass-roots will tighten around white bones;
In the Dagger River mist, through a biting wind,
Horseshoes, at the Sand Mouth line, break on icy boulders.
...Our General endures every pain, every hardship,
Commanded to settle the dust along the border.
We have read, in the Green Books, tales of old days -
But here we behold a living man, mightier than the dead.

七言古詩 岑參 白雪歌送武判官歸京

北風捲地白草折, 胡天八月即飛雪;
忽如一夜春風來, 千樹萬樹梨花開。
散入珠簾濕羅幕, 狐裘不煖錦衾薄。
將軍角弓不得控, 都護鐵衣冷猶著。
瀚海闌干百丈冰, 愁雲黲淡萬里凝。
中軍置酒飲歸客, 胡琴琵琶與羌笛。
紛紛暮雪下轅門, 風掣紅旗凍不翻。
輪臺東門送君去, 去時雪滿天山路;
山迴路轉不見君, 雪上空留馬行處。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Cen Can A SONG OF WHITE SNOW IN FAREWELL
TO FIELD-CLERK WU GOING HOME

The north wind rolls the white grasses and breaks them;
And the Eighth-month snow across the Tartar sky
Is like a spring gale, come up in the night,
Blowing open the petals of ten thousand peartrees.
It enters the pearl blinds, it wets the silk curtains;
A fur coat feels cold, a cotton mat flimsy;
Bows become rigid, can hardly be drawn
And the metal of armour congeals on the men;
The sand-sea deepens with fathomless ice,
And darkness masses its endless clouds;
But we drink to our guest bound home from camp,
And play him barbarian lutes, guitars, harps;
Till at dusk, when the drifts are crushing our tents
And our frozen red flags cannot flutter in the wind,
We watch him through Wheel-Tower Gate going eastward.
Into the snow-mounds of Heaven-Peak Road....
And then he disappears at the turn of the pass,
Leaving behind him only hoof-prints.

七言古詩 杜甫 韋諷錄事宅觀曹將軍畫馬圖

國初以來畫鞍馬, 神妙獨數江都王。
將軍得名三十載, 人間又見真乘黃。
曾貌先帝照夜白, 龍池十日飛霹靂,
內府殷紅瑪瑙盤, 婕妤傳詔才人索。
盤賜將軍拜舞歸, 輕紈細綺相追飛;
貴戚權門得筆跡, 始覺屏障生光輝。
昔日太宗拳毛騧, 近時郭家獅子花。
今之新圖有二馬, 復令識者久歎嗟,
此皆騎戰一敵萬, 縞素漠漠開風沙。
其餘七匹亦殊絕, 迥若寒空雜煙雪;
霜蹄蹴踏長楸間, 馬官廝養森成列。
可憐九馬爭神駿, 顧視清高氣深穩。
借問苦心愛者誰? 後有韋諷前支
[_]

憶昔巡幸新豐宮, 翠花拂天來向東;
騰驤磊落三萬匹, 皆與此圖筋骨同。
自從獻寶朝河宗, 無復射蛟江水中。
君不見, 金粟堆前松柏裡,
龍媒去盡鳥呼風。
[_]
又作遁

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu A DRAWING OF A HORSE BY GENERAL CAO
AT SECRETARY WEI FENG'S HOUSE

Throughout this dynasty no one had painted horses
Like the master-spirit, Prince Jiangdu --
And then to General Cao through his thirty years of fame
The world's gaze turned, for royal steeds.
He painted the late Emperor's luminous white horse.
For ten days the thunder flew over Dragon Lake,
And a pink-agate plate was sent him from the palace -
The talk of the court-ladies, the marvel of all eyes.
The General danced, receiving it in his honoured home
After this rare gift, followed rapidly fine silks
From many of the nobles, requesting that his art
Lend a new lustre to their screens.
...First came the curly-maned horse of Emperor Taizong,
Then, for the Guos, a lion-spotted horse....
But now in this painting I see two horses,
A sobering sight for whosoever knew them.
They are war- horses. Either could face ten thousand.
They make the white silk stretch away into a vast desert.
And the seven others with them are almost as noble
Mist and snow are moving across a cold sky,
And hoofs are cleaving snow-drifts under great trees -
With here a group of officers and there a group of servants.
See how these nine horses all vie with one another -
The high clear glance, the deep firm breath.
...Who understands distinction? Who really cares for art?
You, Wei Feng, have followed Cao; Zhidun preceded him.
...I remember when the late Emperor came toward his Summer Palace,
The procession, in green-feathered rows, swept from the eastern sky --
Thirty thousand horses, prancing, galloping,
Fashioned, every one of them, like the horses in this picture....
But now the Imperial Ghost receives secret jade from the River God,
For the Emperor hunts crocodiles no longer by the streams.
Where you see his Great Gold Tomb, you may hear among the pines
A bird grieving in the wind that the Emperor's horses are gone.

七言古詩 杜甫 丹青引贈曹霸將軍

將軍魏武之子孫, 於今為庶為青門;
英雄割據雖已矣! 文采風流今尚存。
學書初學衛夫人, 但恨無過王右軍。
丹青不知老將至, 富貴於我如浮雲。
開元之中常引見, 承恩數上南熏殿,
凌煙功臣少顏色, 將軍下筆開生面。
良相頭上進賢冠, 猛將腰間大羽箭。
褒公鄂公毛髮動, 英姿颯爽猶酣戰。
先帝天馬玉花驄, 畫工如山貌不同。
是日牽來赤墀下, 迥立閶闔生長風。
詔謂將軍拂絹素, 意匠慘淡經營中;
斯須九重真龍出, 一洗萬古凡馬空。
玉花卻在御榻上, 榻上庭前屹相向;
至尊含笑催賜金, 圉人太僕皆惆悵,
弟子韓幹早入室, 亦能畫馬窮殊相;
幹惟畫肉不畫骨, 忍使驊騮氣凋喪。
將軍畫善蓋有神, 偶逢佳士亦寫真;
即今漂泊干戈際, 屢貌尋常行路人。
[_]
窮反遭俗眼白, 世上未有如公貧;

但看古來盛名下, 終日坎壈纏其身。
[_]
又作途

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu A SONG OF A PAINTING TO GENERAL CAO

O General, descended from Wei's Emperor Wu,
You are nobler now than when a noble....
Conquerors and their valour perish,
But masters of beauty live forever.
...With your brush-work learned from Lady Wei
And second only to Wang Xizhi's,
Faithful to your art, you know no age,
Letting wealth and fame drift by like clouds.
...In the years of Kaiyuan you were much with the Emperor,
Accompanied him often to the Court of the South Wind.
When the spirit left great statesmen, on walls of the Hall of Fame
The point of your brush preserved their living faces.
You crowned all the premiers with coronets of office;
You fitted all commanders with arrows at their girdles;
You made the founders of this dynasty, with every hair alive,
Seem to be just back from the fierceness of a battle.
...The late Emperor had a horse, known as Jade Flower,
Whom artists had copied in various poses.
They led him one day to the red marble stairs
With his eyes toward the palace in the deepening air.
Then, General, commanded to proceed with your work,
You centred all your being on a piece of silk.
And later, when your dragon-horse, born of the sky,
Had banished earthly horses for ten thousand generations,
There was one Jade Flower standing on the dais
And another by the steps, and they marvelled at each other....
The Emperor rewarded you with smiles and with gifts,
While officers and men of the stud hung about and stared.
...Han Gan, your follower, has likewise grown proficient
At representing horses in all their attitudes;
But picturing the flesh, he fails to draw the bone -
So that even the finest are deprived of their spirit.
You, beyond the mere skill, used your art divinely -
And expressed, not only horses, but the life of a good man....
Yet here you are, wandering in a world of disorder
And sketching from time to time some petty passerby
People note your case with the whites of their eyes.
There's nobody purer, there's nobody poorer.
...Read in the records, from earliest times,
How hard it is to be a great artist.

七言古詩 杜甫 寄韓諫議

今我不樂思岳陽, 身欲奮飛病在床。
美人娟娟隔秋水, 濯足洞庭望八荒。
鴻飛冥冥日月白, 青楓葉赤天雨霜。
玉京群帝集北斗, 或騎麒麟翳鳳凰。
芙蓉旌旗煙霧落, 影動倒景搖瀟湘。
星宮之君醉瓊漿, 羽人稀少不在旁。
似聞昨者赤松子, 恐是漢代韓張良;
昔隨劉氏定長安, 帷幄未改神慘傷。
國家成敗吾豈敢? 色難腥腐餐楓香。
周南留滯古所惜, 南極老人應壽昌。
美人胡為隔秋水? 焉得置之貢玉堂。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu A LETTER TO CENSOR HAN

I am sad. My thoughts are in Youzhou.
I would hurry there-but I am sick in bed.
...Beauty would be facing me across the autumn waters.
Oh, to wash my feet in Lake Dongting and see at its eight corners
Wildgeese flying high, sun and moon both white,
Green maples changing to red in the frosty sky,
Angels bound for the Capital of Heaven, near the North Star,
Riding, some of them phrenixes, and others unicorns,
With banners of hibiscus and with melodies of mist,
Their shadows dancing upside-down in the southern rivers,
Till the Queen of the Stars, drowsy with her nectar,
Would forget the winged men on either side of her!
...From the Wizard of the Red Pine this word has come for me:
That after his earlier follower he has now a new disciple
Who, formerly at the capital as Emperor Liu's adviser,
In spite of great successes, never could be happy.
...What are a country's rise and fall?
Can flesh-pots be as fragrant as mountain fruit?....
I grieve that he is lost far away in the south.
May the star of long life accord him its blessing!
...O purity, to seize you from beyond the autumn waters
And to place you as an offering in the Court of Imperial Jade.

七言古詩 杜甫 古柏行

孔明廟前有老柏, 柯如青銅根如石;
[_]
皮溜雨四十圍, 黛色參天二千尺。

君臣已與時際會, 樹木猶為人愛惜。
雲來氣接巫峽長, 月出寒通雪山白。
憶昨路繞錦亭東, 先主武侯同閟宮。
崔嵬枝幹郊原古, 窈窕丹青戶牖空。
落落盤踞雖得地, 冥冥孤高多烈風。
扶持自是神明力, 正直
[_]
因造化功。

大廈如傾要梁棟, 萬牛迴首丘山重。
不露文章世已驚, 未辭剪伐誰能送?
苦心豈免容螻蟻? 香葉終經宿鸞鳳。
志士幽人莫怨嗟, 古來材大難為用。
[_]
又作霜
[_]
又作原

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu A SONG OF AN OLD CYPRESS

Beside the Temple of the Great Premier stands an ancient cypress
With a trunk of green bronze and a root of stone.
The girth of its white bark would be the reach of forty men
And its tip of kingfish-blue is two thousand feet in heaven.
Dating from the days of a great ruler's great statesman,
Their very tree is loved now and honoured by the people.
Clouds come to it from far away, from the Wu cliffs,
And the cold moon glistens on its peak of snow.
...East of the Silk Pavilion yesterday I found
The ancient ruler and wise statesman both worshipped in one temple,
Whose tree, with curious branches, ages the whole landscape
In spite of the fresh colours of the windows and the doors.
And so firm is the deep root, so established underground,
That its lone lofty boughs can dare the weight of winds,
Its only protection the Heavenly Power,
Its only endurance the art of its Creator.
Though oxen sway ten thousand heads, they cannot move a mountain.
...When beams are required to restore a great house,
Though a tree writes no memorial, yet people understand
That not unless they fell it can use be made of it....
Its bitter heart may be tenanted now by black and white ants,
But its odorous leaves were once the nest of phoenixes and pheasants.
...Let wise and hopeful men harbour no complaint.
The greater the timber, the tougher it is to use.

七言古詩 杜甫 觀公孫大娘弟子舞劍器行并序

[_]
大歷二年十月十九日夔府別駕元持宅見臨潁李十二 娘舞劍器,壯其蔚跂。問其所師,曰︰余公孫大娘 弟子也。開元三載,余尚童稚,記於郾城觀公孫氏 舞劍器渾脫。瀏灕頓挫,獨出冠時。自高頭宜春梨 園二伎坊內人,洎外供奉,曉是舞者,聖文神武皇 帝初,公孫一人而已。玉貌錦衣,況余白首!今茲 弟子亦匪盛顏。既辨其由來,知波瀾莫二。撫事慷 慨,聊為劍器行。昔者吳人張旭善草書書帖,數嘗 於鄴縣見公孫大娘舞西河劍器,自此草書長進,豪 蕩感激。即公孫可知矣!
昔有佳人公孫氏, 一舞劍器動四方。
觀者如山色沮喪, 天地為之久低昂。
霍如羿射九日落, 矯如群帝驂龍翔,
來如雷霆收震怒, 罷如江海凝清光。
絳唇珠袖兩寂寞, 晚有弟子傳芬芳。
臨潁美人在白帝, 妙舞此曲神揚揚。
與余問答既有以, 感時撫事增惋傷。
先帝侍女八千人, 公孫劍器初第一。
五十年間似反掌, 風塵澒洞昏王室。
梨園子弟散如煙, 女樂餘姿映寒日。
金粟堆前木已拱, 瞿塘石城草蕭瑟。
玳筵急管曲復終, 樂極哀來月東出。
老夫不知其所往? 足繭荒山轉愁疾。

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Du Fu A SONG OF DAGGER-DANCING TO A GIRL-PUPIL
OF LADY GONGSUN

[_]
On the 19th of the Tenth-month in the second year of Dali, I saw, in the house of the Kueifu official Yuante, a girl named Li from Lingying dancing with a dagger. I admired her skill and asked who was her teacher. She named Lady Gongsun. I remembered that in the third year of Kaiyuan at Yancheng, when I was a little boy, I saw Lady Gongsun dance. She was the only one in the Imperial Theatre who could dance with this weapon. Now she is aged and unknown, and even her pupil has passed the heyday of beauty. I wrote this poem to express my wistfulness. The work of Zhang Xu of the Wu district, that great master of grassy writing, was improved by his having been present when Lady Gongsun danced in the Yeh district. From this may be judged the art of Gongsun.
There lived years ago the beautiful Gongsun,
Who, dancing with her dagger, drew from all four quarters
An audience like mountains lost among themselves.
Heaven and earth moved back and forth, following her motions,
Which were bright as when the Archer shot the nine suns down the sky
And rapid as angels before the wings of dragons.
She began like a thunderbolt, venting its anger,
And ended like the shining calm of rivers and the sea....
But vanished are those red lips and those pearly sleeves;
And none but this one pupil bears the perfume of her fame,
This beauty from Lingying, at the Town of the White God,
Dancing still and singing in the old blithe way.
And while we reply to each other's questions,
We sigh together, saddened by changes that have come.
There were eight thousand ladies in the late Emperor's court,
But none could dance the dagger-dance like Lady Gongsun.
...Fifty years have passed, like the turning of a palm;
Wind and dust, filling the world, obscure the Imperial House.
Instead of the Pear-Garden Players, who have blown by like a mist,
There are one or two girl-musicians now-trying to charm the cold Sun.
There are man-size trees by the Emperor's Golden Tomb
I seem to hear dead grasses rattling on the cliffs of Qutang.
...The song is done, the slow string and quick pipe have ceased.
At the height of joy, sorrow comes with the eastern moon rising.
And I, a poor old man, not knowing where to go,
Must harden my feet on the lone hills, toward sickness and despair.

七言古詩 元結 石魚湖上醉歌并序

[_]
漫叟以公田米釀酒,因休暇,則載酒於湖上, 時取一醉;歡醉中,據湖岸,引臂向魚取酒, 使舫載之,遍飲坐者。意疑倚巴丘,酌於君山 之上,諸子環洞庭而坐,酒舫泛泛然,觸波濤 而往來者,乃作歌以長之。
石魚湖, 似洞庭,
夏水欲滿君山青。
山為樽, 水為沼,
酒徒歷歷坐洲
[_]

長風連日作大浪, 不能廢人運酒舫。
我持長瓢坐巴丘, 酌飲四座以散愁。
[_]
又作島

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Yuan Jie A DRINKING SONG AT STONE-FISH LAKE

[_]
I have used grain from the public fields, for distilling wine. After my office hours I have the wine loaded on a boat and then I seat my friends on the bank of the lake. The little wine-boats come to each of us and supply us with wine. We seem to be drinking on Pa Islet in Lake Dongting. And I write this poem.
Stone-Fish Lake is like Lake Dongting --
When the top of Zun is green and the summer tide is rising.
...With the mountain for a table, and the lake a fount of wine,
The tipplers all are settled along the sandy shore.
Though a stiff wind for days has roughened the water,
Wine-boats constantly arrive....
I have a long-necked gourd and, happy on Ba Island,
I am pouring a drink in every direction doing away with care.

七言古詩 韓愈 山石

山石犖确行徑微, 黃昏到寺蝙蝠飛。
升堂坐階新雨足, 芭蕉葉大梔子肥。
僧言古壁佛畫好, 以火來照所見稀。
鋪床拂席置羹飯, 疏糲亦足飽我飢。
夜深靜臥百蟲絕, 清月出嶺光入扉。
天明獨去無道路, 出入高下窮煙霏。
山紅澗碧紛爛漫, 時見松櫪皆十圍。
當流赤足蹋澗石, 水聲激激風吹衣。
人生如此自可樂, 豈必局束為人鞿?
嗟哉吾黨二三子, 安得至老不更歸?

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Han Yu MOUNTAIN-STONES

Rough were the mountain-stones, and the path very narrow;
And when I reached the temple, bats were in the dusk.
I climbed to the hall, sat on the steps, and drank the rain- washed air
Among the round gardenia-pods and huge bananaleaves.
On the old wall, said the priest, were Buddhas finely painted,
And he brought a light and showed me, and I called them wonderful
He spread the bed, dusted the mats, and made my supper ready,
And, though the food was coarse, it satisfied my hunger.
At midnight, while I lay there not hearing even an insect,
The mountain moon with her pure light entered my door....
At dawn I left the mountain and, alone, lost my way:
In and out, up and down, while a heavy mist
Made brook and mountain green and purple, brightening everything.
I am passing sometimes pines and oaks, which ten men could not girdle,
I am treading pebbles barefoot in swift-running water --
Its ripples purify my ear, while a soft wind blows my garments....
These are the things which, in themselves, make life happy.
Why should we be hemmed about and hampered with people?
O chosen pupils, far behind me in my own country,
What if I spent my old age here and never went back home?

七言古詩 韓愈 八月十五夜贈張功曹

纖雲四捲天無河, 清風吹空月舒波。
沙平水息聲影絕, 一杯相屬君當歌。
君歌聲酸辭且苦, 不能聽終淚如雨。
洞庭連天九疑高, 蛟龍出沒猩鼯號。
十生九死到官所, 幽居默默如藏逃。
下床畏蛇食畏藥, 海氣濕蟄熏腥臊。
昨者州前槌大鼓, 嗣皇繼聖登夔皋。
赦書一日行萬里, 罪從大辟皆除死。
遷者追回流者還, 滌瑕蕩垢清朝班。
州家申名使家抑, 坎軻祇得移荊蠻。
判司卑官不堪說, 未免捶楚塵埃間。
同時輩流多上道, 天路幽險難追攀。
君歌且休聽我歌, 我歌今與君殊科。
一年明月今宵多, 人生由命非由他;
有酒不飲奈明何?

Seven-character-ancient-verse
Han Yu ON THE FESTIVAL OF THE MOON
TO SUB-OFFICIAL ZHANG

The fine clouds have opened and the River of Stars is gone,
A clear wind blows across the sky, and the moon widens its wave,
The sand is smooth, the water still, no sound and no shadow,
As I offer you a cup of wine, asking you to sing.
But so sad is this song of yours and so bitter your voice
That before I finish listening my tears have become a rain:
"Where Lake Dongting is joined to the sky by the lofty Nine-Doubt Mountain,
Dragons, crocodiles, rise and sink, apes, flying foxes, whimper....
At a ten to one risk of death, I have reached my official post,
Where lonely I live and hushed, as though I were in hiding.
I leave my bed, afraid of snakes; I eat, fearing poisons;
The air of the lake is putrid, breathing its evil odours....
Yesterday, by the district office, the great drum was announcing
The crowning of an emperor, a change in the realm.
The edict granting pardons runs three hundred miles a day,
All those who were to die have had their sentences commuted,
The unseated are promoted and exiles are recalled,
Corruptions are abolished, clean officers appointed.
My superior sent my name in but the governor would not listen
And has only transferred me to this barbaric place.
My rank is very low and useless to refer to;
They might punish me with lashes in the dust of the street.
Most of my fellow exiles are now returning home --
A journey which, to me, is a heaven beyond climbing."
...Stop your song, I beg you, and listen to mine,
A song that is utterly different from yours:
"Tonight is the loveliest moon of the year.
All else is with fate, not ours to control;
But, refusing this wine, may we choose more tomorrow?"