282
exam conditions

so – you’re going to sit that damned exam
three days of stale lunches
don’t forget your chamber pot

ah but a martyr has no care for his body
soon it will be surplus

how long depressed
he waits on his chance
sword aged in the soil
will bury in him

the vulgar covet high position
truth interests the superior man

how can a fair ruler
lack faithful subjects?
something tells me it’s
happened before

no bright sun in the muddy water
nor will clouds reflect where rapids make foam

talented, gormless – each needs the other
there’s ying in the yang of the happiest home

283
words of parting in times of trouble

what can you play on a broken zither?
the ‘South Wind’ isn’t really a song

I dream a lot
I’m troubled with sickness

music is needed
without it these words
will never mend the country
or make it bright again

in the past we’ve met and parted often
but never so bitterly
as now, lacking song

all the strings are broken
so the hearts of the people

high officials say
let them whistle instead


284
dao ke dao fei chang dao

green mountains by the Yellow River
below us the road to Chang An

each footfall leads a thousand li on
best leave at home all thoughts of the end

285
a present of calligraphy

your true wild monk won’t fall for wine
well wrought characters do it for him

a wild ink brush finds its way through the sky
cloud makes fine parchment

here let me compose
black bolt of lighting flies from my hand

as water from a pure spring
the apt word flows

when I write see how dark the clouds gather
and washing the inkstone, a mountain in torrents

fresh green in the sun that follows
the ox and the village, track’s happy slant

then here comes this angry serpent – invective
and just as meaning, wild wind at our throats

I’d better put down my brush right now
before these big waves sink any more boats


286
bound for Hunan in the summer rains

rivers and lakes
are all connected

these two kinds of water
wash from the sky

bound south this one sail
chokes in the shallows

no wind in the weeds
we swelter becalmed

ah, when the snow sings
– will the unwashed hear?

let me rise like a crane
show the river its wings

287
for one returning to Henan

wind walks in the bends of the river
no mortal voice heard there

but the crane dances
mid dozens of strings

water chestnuts and vines
trap the boat

the sun shines high
in the mountains

the forest here
my un-tune-able zither

accompanies me
in singing these thanks

288
crossing the Gao Bridge in Suzhou
starting out for the south

here, take this pair of shoes
you’ll need them

the way south is long
the bridge far for a start

green the water
blue the breeze over

pick lotus flowers
early in autumn

clear alleys of light
where wavelets roll

morning’s tides
come in four doors

those girls of Wu
voices soft, sweet

boats lap on the water
where’s the one signed for ‘wine’?

that’s what I want to know
that’s where I’ll linger…ah

always some traces of footsteps remain
for instance all those you took as a child

memory’s like a star in the mist
you wake when the dream is vanishing

my heart burns to think of all this
what’s past is recalled, won’t return

see two middle aged men
at these first steps parting

the Gao Bridge winding away
I remember a tune strummed

fronting an old lonely house
how I was drunk with youth then

comrade, hold my hand
stay the dao just this while

in friendship
the way will not wither

289
sending a Daoist back to his mountain

which pine wishes its colour were autumn?
far less trees confess winter’s their soul

jade’s never going to be soft
it’s the same

you’re climbing the mountain from a straight road
you drink from a river the kinks are run from

for clothes I guess there’s a fine cut of cloud
with the help of the cranes you’ll get letters gone

don’t tell me the celestial village is far
I only wish I could go


290
sending an uncle off to Chu

adrift in waves
sea or sky

it’s the same
light sweat

fan of feathers
sail lightly tossed

shadows of leaves
on the shore

water lilies
sprayed by the breeze

boat anchored bobs
how endlessly

an uncle sings
a nephew worries


291
sending a courtier back to the army

an expert at riding, with bow

young men gather
to see the eagle’s
clear cold sky shot

to see the flag leading
away into clouds

snow’s so ancient there
it can’t melt

in vain blame the stream
that it halts in the mountains

recluse keep an eye out
for dragons, for men

272
farewell to two scholars

what is it to write,
to fashion culture?

qi of the hearts of sages
no less

the happy heart stands straight as a pine
when the mind’s in a mess
all your writing’s dishevelled

Dong Ting is not of this world
the way there is all illusion
guests go mid-month

sails fill with wind, flow out of the sky
fish and dragons leap from the water
what colourful waves they make

see shrubs and trees outlined in the jade stream
the monsters are terrible
none of them know how high the sky

yet with sincerity
true qi of sage heart
there are no creatures but we may tame
once having given each to its name


273
the high monk off for his re-education

one leaves the borders of Wu deep in waves
the hill of Chu reached, evening glows

three rounds the leaves and clouds have crept

his poems praise cloud, jade the same
how lotus like, how pure his dao

people laugh at those who drift with the tide
forgetting the depths of the pine


274
portrait of the priest coming into the mountain

at leisure a heart like the lonely crane’s
years of wisdom more than these tall pines

far from all haunts
how the stream tumbles here

all the way down

as snow is my rice
the white cloud my field

speak quietly that the heart might lift
receive the sage trace of his height


275
a farewell to my favourite Daoist

the orchid spring laps at my robe
a pure moon lives in my heart

clear green tea, a clean soft voice
heart smiling proof against the way


276
is the Daoist heavier than air?

head clapped with halves of moon
his shoulders cloud sabled

bones pine light allow him flight
heart crane high he soars

one string of cash
in the mind’s eye

he’d crash


277
seeing off an uncle east, he having passed his examination

in Changan roads for horses and carts
tall willows make floating shelter

a thousand hearts, ten thousand – all
for fame and gain are gone… why not?

yellow cranes are all for distance
the sea has no margin to spare

the ebb of the ocean is never quite silence
hear the chanting draws us back

a mantra’s made out of the breeze
falling flowers adorn conversation

bird and fish: their ways must part
one soars, the other sinks


278
going south to look for his brothers

spring colours the ground
suggesting a poem

in hand a piece of precious moon
words as from holy eminence

turnings of the river
like the turnings of the heart

the water runs a thousand miles
all along the verdant valley

to his wild geese brothers
this old lame duck


279
one day in spring

no more to be thought
grass grows – it’s said

listen to the military man by the barracks
one stirring word, see heroes cringe

zither of Chu scares the south geese
such are the facts as I see them

the seaside in the city
sun and cloud are one

with wine the view’s more beautiful
let me recite something embellishing…

passing the Sui dike, willows are withered
come through the dense beds of Luo flowers
colourful shirt, I won’t be seen

still sorry for that bird’s worn feathers
how sad to leave tracks
when your future’s so high


280
an uncle parting for the south

roots of the winter grass not quite dead
sad hearts have certainly withered

the view over water is all day in changes
to reach the sky – how long, how far

human lives follow the dawn and the sunset
we’re driven by sun and moon to go on

north to the mountains
south to the sea

thank the party
for this fine road and fast car


281
looking forward to your long career in the army

the ambitious man
wants to seem thankful
changes his clothes
but keeps the old skin

still friends and relatives
form new impressions
old students and servants
admire him now

with books at home
a sword abroad
what a beautiful stone at his head!

I’m only kidding
that wasn’t you…

just look at the dust where the army has been
the enemy baffled
but isn’t it obvious?
standing mid flags and drums
head high
the dragon is too
too smart to fight

was it not something you whispered?

such sage advice makes ministers
the kind who last from reign to reign