C A T H A Y

Translations by Ezra Pound, for the most part from the Chinese of RIHAKU, from the notes of the late Ernest Fenollosa, and the decipherings of the Professors Mori and Ariga.

Rihaku flourished in the eighth century of our era, the Anglo-Saxon Seafarer is of about this period, the other poems from the Chinese are earlier.

(The Provençal poems (if included) are from about 1180 to 1200.)

SONG OF THE BOWMEN OF SHU

Here we are, picking the first fern-shoots

And saying: When shall we get back to our country?

Here we are because we have the Ken-nin for our foemen,
We have no comfort because of these Mongols.

We grub the soft fern-shoots,

When anyone says "Return", the others are full of
sorrow.

Sorrowful minds, sorrow is strong, we are hungry and
thirsty.

Our defense is not yet made sure, no one can let
his friend return.

We grub the old fern-stalks.

We say: Will we be let to go back in October?

There is no ease in royal affairs, we have no comfort.

Our sorrow is bitter, but we would not return to our
country.

What flower has come into blossom?

Whose chariot? The General's.

Horses, his horses even, are tired. They were strong.

We have no rest, three battles a month.

By heaven, his horses are tired.

The generals are on them, the soldiers are by them

The horses are well trained, the generals have ivory
arrows and quivers, ornamented with fish-skin.

The enemy is swift, we must be careful.

When we set out, the willows were drooping with spring,
we come back in the snow,

We go slowly, we are hungry and thirsty,

Our mind is full of sorrow, who will know of our grief.

by Kutsugen

THE BEAUTIFUL TOILET

Blue, blue is the grass about the river
And the willows have overfilled the close garden.
And within, the mistress, in the midmost of her youth,
White, white of face, hesitates, passing the door.
Slender, she puts forth a slender hand,

And she was a courtezan in the old days,
And she has married a sot,
Who now goes drunkenly out
And leaves her too much alone.

by Mei Sheng

BC.140

THE RIVER SONG

This boat is of shato-wood, and its gunwales are

cut magnolia,
Musicians with jeweled flutes and with pipes of gold
Fill full the sides in rows, and our wine

Is rich for a thousand cups.

We carry singing girls, drift with the drifting water,
Yet Sennin needs

A yellow stork for a charger, and all our seamen
Would follow the white gulls or ride them.

But Kutsu's prose song

Hangs with the sun and moon.

King So's terraced palace

is now but a barren hill,
But I draw pen on this barge
Causing the five peaks to tremble,
And I have joy in these words

like the joy of blue islands.
( If glory could last forever
Then the waters of Han would flow northward. )

And I have moped in the Emperor's garden, awaiting an

order-to-write !

I looked at the dragon-pond, with its willow-coloured water

Just reflecting the sky's tinge,
And heard the five-score nightingales aimlessly singing.

The eastern wind brings the green colour into the
island grasses at Yei-shu,
The purple house and the crimson are full of spring
softness.

South of the pond the willow-tips are half blue and
bluer,
Their cords tangle in mist, against the brocade-like
palace.

Vine-strings a hundred feet long hang down from carved
railings,
And high over the willows, the fine birds sing to
each other, and listen,
Crying =," Kwan, Kuan," for the early wind, and the
feel of it.

The wind bundles itself into a bluish cloud and wanders off.

Over a thousand gates, over a thousand doors
are the sounds of spring singing,
And the Emperor is at Ko.

Five clouds hang aloft, bright on the purple sky,
The imperial guards come forth from the golden house
with their armour a-gleaming.

THE RIVER-MERCHANTS WIFE , A LETTER

While my hair was still cut straight across my forehead
I played about the front gate, pulling flowers.
You came by on bamboo stilts, playing horse,
You walked about my seat, playing with blue plums
And we went on living in the village of Chokan:
Two small people, without dislike or suspicion.

At fourteen I married My Lord you.
I never laughed, being bashful.
Lowering my head, I looked at the wall.
Called to, a thousand times, I never looked back.

At fifteen I stopped scowling,
I desired my dust to be mingled with yours
Forever and forever, and forever.
Why should I climb the look out ?

At sixteen you departed,
You went into far Ku-to-Yen, by the river of swirling
eddies,
And you have been gone five months.

The monkeys make sorrowful noise overhead.

You dragged your feet when departing.

By the gate now, the moss is grown, the different mosses,
Too deep to clear them away !

The leaves fall early this autumn, in wind.

The paired butterflies are already yellow with August,
Over the grass in the West garden,
They hurt me.

I grow older,

If you are coming down through the narrows of the
river Kiang,
Please let me know beforehand,

And I will come out to meet you,

As far as Cho-fu-Sa.

by Rihaku

THE JEWEL STAIRS GRIEVANCE

The jeweled steps are already quite white with dew,
It is so late that the dew soaks my gauze stockings,
And I let down the crystal curtain
And watch the moon through the clear autumn.

by Rihaku

Note: This poem is especially prized by readers all over the land.
Jewel stairs, therefore a palace. Grievance therefore there
is something to complain of. Gauze stockings therefore
a court lady, not a servant who complains. Clear
autumn therefore he has no excuse on account of weather.
Also she has come early for the dew has not merely
whitened the stairs but has soaked her stockings. The
poem is especially prized because she utters no direct
reproach.

POEM BY THE BRIDGE AT TEN - SHIN

March has come to the bridge head,

Peach boughs and apricot boughs hang over a thousand gates
At morning there are flowers to cut the heart,

And evening drives them on the eastward-flowing waters.

Petals are on the gone waters and on the going,

And on the back-swirling eddies,

But today's men are not the men of the old days,

Though they hang in the same way over the bridge-rail.

The sea's colour moves at the dawn

And the princes still stand in rows, about the throne,

And the moon falls over the portals of Sei-go-yō,

And clings to the walls and the gate-top.

With head-gear glittering against the cloud and sun,

The lords go forth from the court, and into far borders.

They ride upon dragon-like horses,

Upon horses with head-trappings of yellow-metal,

And the streets make way for their passage.

Haughty their passing,

Haughty their steps as they go in to great banquets,

12

To high halls and curious food,

To the perfumed air and girls dancing,

To clear flutes and clear singing ;

To the dance of the seventy couples ;

To the mad chase through the gardens.

Night and day are given over to pleasure

And they think it will last a thousand autumns,

Unwearying autumns.

For them the yellow dogs howl portents in vain,

And what are they compared to the lady Rokushu,

That was cause of hate !

Who among them is a man like Han-rei

Who departed alone with his mistress,

With her hair unbound, and he his own skiffs-man !

Rihai bu

EXILE 'S LETTER

To So-Kin of Rakuyo, ancient friend, Chancellor of Gen.

Now I remember that you built me a special tavern
By the south side of the bridge at Ten-Shin.

With yellow gold and white jewels, we paid for songs
and laughter

And we were drunk for month on month, forgetting the
kings and princes.

Intelligent men came drifting in from the sea and from
the west border

And with them, and with you especially

There was nothing at cross purpose,

And they made nothing of sea-crossing or of mountain
crossing,

If only they could be of that fellowship,

And we all spoke out our hearts and minds,
and without regret.

And then I was sent off to South Wei,

smothered in laurel groves,

And you to the north of Raku-hoku,

Till we had nothing but thoughts and memories in common.

And then, when separation had come to its worst,

We met, and traveled into Sen-Go,

Through all the thirty-six folds of the turning and
twisting waters,

Into a valley of the thousand bright flowers,
That was the first valley;

And into ten thousand valleys full of voices and pine-wind
pine-winds.

And with silver harness and reins of gold,

Out come the East of Kan foreman and his company,

And there came also the " True man " of Shi-yo to meet me,
Playing on a jeweled mouth-organ.

In the storied houses of San-Ko they gave us more
Sennin music,

Many instruments, like the sound of young phoenix broods.

The form of Kan Chu, drunk, danced

because his long sleeves wouldn't keep still
With that music playing.

And I, wrapped in brocade, went to sleep with my head
on his lap,

And my spirit so high it was all over the heavens,

And before the end of the day we were scattered like
stars, or rain.

I had to be off to So, far away over the waters,
You back to your river-bridge.

And your father, who was brave as a leopard,

Was governor in Hei Shu, and put down the barbarian
rabble.

And one May he had you send for me,
despite the long distance.

And what with broken wheels and so on, I won't say
. it wasn't hard going,
Over roads twisted like sheeps' guts.

And I was still going, late in the year,
in the cutting wind from the North,
And thinking how little you cared for the cost,
and you caring enough to pay it.

And what a reception :

Red jade cups, food well set on a blue jeweled table,
And I was drunk, and had no thought of returning.

And you would walk out with me to the western corner
of the castle,
To the dynastic temple, with water about it clear as
blue jade,

With boats floating, and the sound of mouth-organs
and drums,

With ripples like dragon-scales, going grass green
on the water,

Pleasure lasting, with courteans, going and coming
without hindrance,

With the willow flakes falling like snow,

And the vermilioned girls getting drunk about sunset,

And the water a hundred feet deep reflecting green eyebrows
-- Eye brows painted green are a fine sight in young
moonlight,

Gracefully painted --

And the girls singing back at each other,
Dancing in transparent brocade,
And the wind lifting the song, and interrupting it,
Tossing it up under the clouds.

And all this comes to an end.

And is not again to be met with.

I went up to the court for examination,
Tried Layu's luck, offered the Choyo song,
And got no promotion,

and went back to the East Mountains white-headed

And once again, later, we met at the South bridge-head,
And then the crowd broke up, you went north to San palace
And if you ask how I regret that parting :

It is like the flowers falling at Spring's end
Confused, whirled in a tangle.

What is the use of talking, and there is no end of
talking,
There is no end of things in the heart.

I call in the boy, have him sit on his
knees here
To seal this,
And send it a thousand miles, thinking.

SEPARATION ON THE RIVER KIANG

Ko-jin goes west from Ko-kaku-ro,
The smoke-flowers are blurred over the river.
His lone sail blots the far sky,
And now I see only the river,
The long Kiang, reaching heaven.

TAKING LEAVE OF A FRIEND

Blue mountains to the north of the walls,
White river winding about them ;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.

Mind like a floating wide cloud,
Sunset like the parting of old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each other
as we are departing.

LEAVE TAKING NEAR SHOKU

"Sanso, King of Shoku, built roads"

They say the roads of Sanso are steep,
Sheer as the mountains.

The walls rise in a man's face,
Clouds grow out of the hill

at his horses bridle.

Sweet trees are on the paved way of the Shin,
Their trunks burst through the paving,
And freshets are bursting their ice

in the midst of Shoku, a proud city.

Men's fates are already set,
There is no need of asking diviners.

THE CITY OF CHOAN

The phoenix are at play on their terraces.

The phoenix are gone, the river flows on alone.

Flowers and grass

Cover over the dark path

where lay the dynastic house of the Go.

The bright cloths and bright caps of the Shin

Are now the base of old hills.

The Three Mountains fall through the far heaven,

The isle of White Heron

splits the two streams apart.

Now the high clouds cover the sun

And I can not see Choan afar

And I am sad.

KENSINGTON, N.Y.

A HOLLAND PLACE CHAMBERS

SENNIN POEM, by Kakuhaku

The red and green kingfishers

flash between the orchids and clover,
And one bird casts its gleam on another.

Green vines hang through the high forest,

They weave a whole roof to the mountain.

The lone man sits with shut speech.

He purrs, and pats the clear strings,

He throws his heart up to the sky,

He bites through the flower pistil

and brings up a fine fountain.

The red-pine-tree god looks on him and wonders.

He rides through the purple smoke to visit the sennin,

He takes " Floating Hill " by the sleeve,

He claps his hand on the back of the great water sennin;

But you, you dam'd crowd of gnats,

Can you even tell the age of a turtle ? !!

This note.

The name of a certain sennin. The sennin are a sort
of beatified " shee " or nature spirits .

HOLLAND PLACE CHAMBERS
KENSINGTON, WI

A BALLAD OF THE MULBERRY ROAD
( very early )
........

The sun rises in the south-east corner of things
To look on the tall house of the Shin
For they have a daughter named Rafu,

( pretty girl ),

She made the name for herself: "Gauze Veil ",
For she feeds mulberries to silk-worms.

She gets them by the south wall of the town.

With green strings she makes the warp of her basket.
She makes the shoulder-straps of her basket

from the boughs of Katsura,

And she piles her hair up on the left side of her head-piece.

Her ear-rings are made of pearl,

Her under-skirt is of green pattern-silk,

Her over-skirt is the same silk deyed in purple,

And when men , going by , look on Rafu ,

They set down their burdens ,

They stand and twirl their mustaches .

V BTV

A BLA

They ask and show their thanks.

They see down their hands,
And when men 's going by,
Look on as if they did
Her over-knee as she
Her ankle-knee as the
Her arm-knee as she
Has a knee as big as

Her over-knee as she
Her ankle-knee as the
Her arm-knee as the
Her arm-knee as she
Her arm-knee as she

Her arm-knee as she
Her ankle-knee as the
Her knee as big as the
Her arm-knee as she
Her arm-knee as she

Her arm-knee as big as
Her ankle-knee as the
Her knee as big as the
Her arm-knee as she
Her arm-knee as she

And she brings her glass on
And she brings her glass to
From the person of the
She makes the person of
With the knee of the man
She makes the man of the
She gives him the glass.

She brings them the person of
And she brings them the man
And she brings them the glass.

She makes the person of
(bleeding him)

And she brings him a glass of
And she brings him the glass.

To look on the fall home of
The man who was a man.

The man who was a man
To look on the fall home of
The man who was a man.

The man who was a man

A BARRI OF THE MARYBETH ROAD

M. KORANENEN

KORANENEN M. KORANENEN

HOLLAND PLACE CHAMBERS,
KENSINGTON, VIC.

OLD IDEA OF CHOAN,
a Poem by Rosoriu

The narrow streets cut into the wide high-way at Choan
Dark oxen, white horses, drag on the seven coaches
with out-riders.

The coaches are perfumed wood.

The jeweled chair is held up at the crossway
before the royal lodge
awaiting the Princess.

A glitter of gilded saddles eddies before the marquis's gate,
The canopy embroidered with dragons
drinks in, and casts back, the sun.

Evening comes,
the trappings are bordered with mist.

The hundred cords of the mist are spread in
and double the trees.

Night birds, and night women
spread out their sounds through the gardens.

2.

Birds with flowery wing, hovering butterflies
crowd over the Thousand Gates.

Trees that glitter like jade,

Terraces tinged as with silver:
the seed of a myriad hues,

A net-work of arbours and passages and covered ways,

4 HOLLAND PLACE CHAMBERS, KENSINGTON, TJ

Double towers, winged roofs, border the net-work of ways,

A place of felicitous meeting !

Rio's house stands out on the sky

with glitter of colour, as Butei of Ken

Had made the high golden lotus to gather his dews.

Before it, another house which I do not know !

How shall we know all the friends

whom we meet on strange road-ways ?

5

HOLLAND PLACE CHAMBERS

KENSINGTON

The UNMOVING CLOUD

by To-em-mai ( T'ao Yuan Ming a.d. 365-427)

............

"Wet spring time", says To-em-mai, "wet spring in the garden,
The clouds have gathered and gathered

and the rain falls and falls.

The eight ply of the heavens

are all folded into one darkness,
And the wide, flat road stretches out.

I stop in my room toward the east, quiet, quiet,
I pat my cask of new wine.

My friends are estranged, or far distant.

I bow my head and stand still.

3.

Rain, rain, and the clouds have gathered,
The eight ply of the heavens are darkness,

The flat land is turned into river,
"Wine, wine, here is wine".

I drink by my eastern window,

I think of talking and men

And no boat, no carriage approaches.

To em mai

3.

The trees in my east-looking garden
are bursting out with new twigs,
They try to stir new affection.

And men say the sun and moon keep on moving
because they can't find a soft seat.

The birds flutter to rest in my tree
and I think I have heard them saying :

"It is not that there are no other men,

"But we like this fellow the best,

"Yet however long we speak,

"He can not know the tune of our sorrow."

Finis.