“big dreamers shoot for open sky/so much life in those open eyes/so much depth you look for light”

For Poetry Monday, some self-indulgence:


Presented When Zhang Yunrong Danced, Yang Yuhuan, tr. Larry Hammer

A gauze sleeve stirs thick incense without ceasing,
Red lotuses so graceful in the autumn mist.
Soft clouds upon the mountain suddenly shake in the wind,
Light willows by the pond begin to brush the water.



Some of the tropes and imagery of wuxia are very old indeed. Yang Yuhuan (719-756), also known as Yang Guifei (“Imperial Consort Yang”), was a musician, legendary beauty, and the last principal consort of Emperor Xuanzong. Her death during the An Lushan Rebellion was memorialized in Song of Lasting Regret.

---L.

Index of Chinese translations

Subject quote from Rainbow, Sia.