A Song at Weicheng
A morning-rain has settled the dust in Weicheng;
Willows are green again in the tavern dooryard...
Wait till we empty one more cup –
West of Yang Gate there'll be no old friends.
poem by Wang Wei, translated by Witter Bynner
Added by Dan Costinaş
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Mengcheng Cove
I have a new house, at the mouth of the Mengcheng.
The tree at the old one — the willow — feels more sorrow;
though someone new — I don’t know who — will come,
it still has just sorrow for the previous tenant.
poem by Wang Wei, translated by William P. Coleman
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Written on the Wang River Scroll
No urge now to write poems.
Old age is my companion.
In error they made me a poet in a past life.
Some lost existence had me as a painter.
Unable to get rid of ingrained habits,
The world has come to know me by them.
My name, my style, they may grasp, it’s true.
But my mind and heart they’ll never know.
poem by Wang Wei
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My Retreat at Mount Zhongnan
My heart in middle age found the Way.
And I came to dwell at the foot of this mountain.
When the spirit moves, I wander alone
Amid beauty that is all for me...
I will walk till the water checks my path,
Then sit and watch the rising clouds –
And some day meet an old wood-cutter
And talk and laugh and never return.
poem by Wang Wei, translated by Witter Bynner
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Visiting the Temple of Accumulated Fragrance
I didn’t know where the temple was,
pushing mile on mile among cloudy peaks;
old trees, peopleless paths,
deep mountains, somewhere a bell.
Brook voices choke over craggy boulders,
sun rays turn cold in the green pines.
At dusk by the bend of a deserted pond,
a monk in meditation, taming poison dragons.
poem by Wang Wei, translated by Burton Watson
Added by Dan Costinaş
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