Two Yangzhou Poems

“On the Lookout at a Temple up Wugongtai on an Autumn Day” by Liu Changqing and “Yangzhou Dreams” by Qin Guan, Translated from Chinese by Aiden Heung

On the Lookout at a Temple
up Wugongtai on an Autumn Day

by Liu Changqing

On the stand that collapsed
long before my arrival, I halt
and look to the autumn sun—
it hangs like an idea of home.
A temple, almost abandoned, unvisited
by men; clouded hills,
refused to the other shore
by water, fall to a darker shade.
Almost sunset, which clings
to an ancient fortress, when
temple’s evening bells fill
the empty forest with cold.
Tales of the previous dynasty,
though sad, though dispersed
into water; alone, Yangtze River
flows into now and me.

Yangzhou Dreams

by Qin Guan

Evening clouds furled back
above willow ponds, where
fog lingers light and rain
has just stopped. No
swallows returning.
Cold autumn on my skin,
yet it’s spring outside
the patio; soft east wind
sieved through embroidered
curtains, thick with the scent
of honey. But where
are you ? Journeyed far
down the river south ?
A partridge now,
her sad notes now
have pierced spring.
Once on a journey with you,
your bell-like song your
wondrous dance, and I,
in return, dressed your hair
with a fold of brocade.
Ten years I was with you,
my nectar, my ambrosia.
I still remember that fateful
night. I returned late, almost
sobbing on my horse,
and looked up to your balcony;
You half hid, waiting,
behind the rolled-up curtain.
Now you are half the world
away; my raveled mind
takes me, night after night,
back to Yangzhou, to you.

About the authors and translator:

刘长卿 Liu Changqing (unknown – 788 AD) was a poet in the Mid-Tang Dynasty, China. He was also a government official and served four emperors in the Mid-Tang Dynasty, living through the An Lushan Rebellion. He was famous for his quatrains about the desolation of the war-wrecked country.

秦观 Qin Guan (1049-1100 AD) was a renowned poet of Song Ci, metrical poems of the Song Dynasty composed to songs, generally considered one representative of the poetic school marked by graceful styles and restrained emotions.

Aiden Heung (He/They) is a Chinese poet born in a Tibetan Autonomous Town, currently living in Shanghai. He holds an MA from Tongji University. His words have appeared in The Australian Poetry Journal, The Missouri Review, The Cordite Poetry Review, Poet Lore, and Parentheses, among other places.