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larryhammerFor Poetry Monday, it's farewell to Millay—with more self-indulgence. I once wrote a story based on this sequence, and it finally occurred to me that I can now make my own translation. This is just as cryptic in Chinese—and probably was to everyone but an intended audience of one—but also strikingly evocative. Which is pretty much Li Shangyin in a nutshell. What can be teased out of the elliptical references and symbols (which I won’t detail beyond surface essentials) is that it’s about a love affair between a Daoist nun and an unnamed man, probably the author. Every female symbol is related to her, every male one to him, and if you think you can see something as somehow related to sex, you are probably right.
Emerald Walls: Three Poems, Li Shangyin
1
Within twelve emerald city walls with crooked railings,
A sea-beast’s horn repels the dust and jade repels the cold.
Most messages in Langyuan are entrusted to cranes—
There’s no tree by the woman’s couch without a phoenix.
Stars sink beneath the ocean—face the window and look.
Rain floods that River’s source, now seen from another seat.
If these dawn pearls were bright as well as permanent,
All life-long one would face that crystal-water dish.
2
Catch her shadow, hear her voice—you’re already charmed.
In the jade pool, the lotus leaves are laid out straight.
Unless you meet Xiaoshi, don’t turn your head around;
You cannot see Hongya again to tap his shoulder.
The violet phoenix is coquettish, pendant in beak;
The red fish-scales dance wildly, plucking zither strings.
Prince E was disappointed in his boat at night
And slept alone with incense beneath embroidered quilts.
3
Upon the Double Seventh, she came at the preset time—
Till now, her inner chamber curtain had stayed closed.
The Jade Disc takes care of the Rabbit’s newborn soul,
The coral on the iron lattice is still unbranched.
Choose a magic prescription, teach her to stay her looks.
Gather up phoenix papers, write down both your feelings.
It’s laid out clearly in The Life of Emperor Wu—
Don’t say there’s no one in the mortal realm who knows!
碧城三首
之一
碧城十二曲阑干，
犀辟尘埃玉辟寒。
阆苑有书多附鹤，
女床无树不栖鸾。
星沈海底当窗见，
雨过河源隔座看。
若是晓珠明又定，
一生长对水晶盘。
之二
对影闻声已可怜，
玉池荷叶正田田。
不逢萧史休回首，
莫见洪崖又拍肩。
紫凤放娇衔楚佩，
赤鳞狂舞拨湘弦。
鄂君怅望舟中夜，
绣被焚香独自眠。
之三
七夕来时先有期，
洞房帘箔至今垂。
玉轮顾兔初生魄，
铁网珊瑚未有枝。
检与神方教驻景，
收将凤纸写相思。
武皇内传分明在，
莫道人间总不知。
1: Emerald-colored walls indicate a Daoist residence, here of a nun. The sea-beast is the fabulous chenxi whose horn supposedly repels dust. Langyuan is a dwelling of Daoist immortals, here used as a high-falutin name for the nun’s temple. The River is the Milky Way, and dawn pearls are morning dewdrops.
2: The woman is in her chambers with her lover—the phoenix is her, the fish him. Xiaoshi and Hongya are historical references, both heroic comparisons for the lover, and the story about Prince E involves nostalgia for a past assignation.
3: The festival of the Double Seventh (the 7th day of the 7th lunar month) is a time for lovers to meet. The bit about the moon rabbit growing a soul suggests a pregnancy, the coral without branches that it’s early term (iron lattices were used in coral aquaculture), and the prescription seems to be for an abortifacient. Phoenix paper was used for both imperial edicts and Daoist spells—possibly both associations are intended here. The point about Wu’s biography goes completely over my head—and feels like an in-joke—but regardless the lover is using it to claim the secret is out. (If your reaction is that it all still seems pretty secretive, you’re not alone.)
Index of Chinese translations
---L.
Subject quote from The Prisoner, Emily Bronte.
Emerald Walls: Three Poems, Li Shangyin
1
Within twelve emerald city walls with crooked railings,
A sea-beast’s horn repels the dust and jade repels the cold.
Most messages in Langyuan are entrusted to cranes—
There’s no tree by the woman’s couch without a phoenix.
Stars sink beneath the ocean—face the window and look.
Rain floods that River’s source, now seen from another seat.
If these dawn pearls were bright as well as permanent,
All life-long one would face that crystal-water dish.
2
Catch her shadow, hear her voice—you’re already charmed.
In the jade pool, the lotus leaves are laid out straight.
Unless you meet Xiaoshi, don’t turn your head around;
You cannot see Hongya again to tap his shoulder.
The violet phoenix is coquettish, pendant in beak;
The red fish-scales dance wildly, plucking zither strings.
Prince E was disappointed in his boat at night
And slept alone with incense beneath embroidered quilts.
3
Upon the Double Seventh, she came at the preset time—
Till now, her inner chamber curtain had stayed closed.
The Jade Disc takes care of the Rabbit’s newborn soul,
The coral on the iron lattice is still unbranched.
Choose a magic prescription, teach her to stay her looks.
Gather up phoenix papers, write down both your feelings.
It’s laid out clearly in The Life of Emperor Wu—
Don’t say there’s no one in the mortal realm who knows!
碧城三首
之一
碧城十二曲阑干，
犀辟尘埃玉辟寒。
阆苑有书多附鹤，
女床无树不栖鸾。
星沈海底当窗见，
雨过河源隔座看。
若是晓珠明又定，
一生长对水晶盘。
之二
对影闻声已可怜，
玉池荷叶正田田。
不逢萧史休回首，
莫见洪崖又拍肩。
紫凤放娇衔楚佩，
赤鳞狂舞拨湘弦。
鄂君怅望舟中夜，
绣被焚香独自眠。
之三
七夕来时先有期，
洞房帘箔至今垂。
玉轮顾兔初生魄，
铁网珊瑚未有枝。
检与神方教驻景，
收将凤纸写相思。
武皇内传分明在，
莫道人间总不知。
1: Emerald-colored walls indicate a Daoist residence, here of a nun. The sea-beast is the fabulous chenxi whose horn supposedly repels dust. Langyuan is a dwelling of Daoist immortals, here used as a high-falutin name for the nun’s temple. The River is the Milky Way, and dawn pearls are morning dewdrops.
2: The woman is in her chambers with her lover—the phoenix is her, the fish him. Xiaoshi and Hongya are historical references, both heroic comparisons for the lover, and the story about Prince E involves nostalgia for a past assignation.
3: The festival of the Double Seventh (the 7th day of the 7th lunar month) is a time for lovers to meet. The bit about the moon rabbit growing a soul suggests a pregnancy, the coral without branches that it’s early term (iron lattices were used in coral aquaculture), and the prescription seems to be for an abortifacient. Phoenix paper was used for both imperial edicts and Daoist spells—possibly both associations are intended here. The point about Wu’s biography goes completely over my head—and feels like an in-joke—but regardless the lover is using it to claim the secret is out. (If your reaction is that it all still seems pretty secretive, you’re not alone.)
Index of Chinese translations
---L.
Subject quote from The Prisoner, Emily Bronte.