Three Hundred Tang Poems #197-209

A third installment of seven-character regulated verse. In my previous dispatch, I described this set as “a bunch of random dudes milling about in the valley between Du Fu Plateau and Li Shangyin Range.” In my defense of that somewhat dismissive characterization, I note that it’s completely accurate. Topics include a complaint about being wrongfully demoted, a plea for official patronage, praise for a Daoist retreat, a dang-I-miss-ya-bro lament, a soldier’s wife missing her husband, a retired soldier missing his comrades (with bonus slice-of-riverboat-life details), imperialism from a mopey frontier administrator, reflections on an ancient battle site (visited in autumn as per regulation), a three-part elegy for a departed wife, a gaze-at-the-moon-while-thinking-of-my-scattered-family thing, and an enigmatic outcrop of Li Shangyin’s craggy id. Which is not to say these are bad poets. But they are totally random, with only one a Name Author aside from Li Shangyin himself (spoiler: Bai Juyi).

These are, as usual, revised from rougher drafts posted in my other journal (and will no doubt be revised in the future).

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( The brocade se once pointlessly had fifty strings— / Each string, each bridge, brings memories of blossoming years )

Who knows how long it’ll take to finish the last quarter of this section—after all, there’s nine more ridges of Li Shangyin Range to climb through. Regardless—onward!

---L.

Index of Chinese translations