English

Through autumn fields of bush clover
where the wasps drone,
at dawn the traveler
sets out—
when can I look for his return?

That cuckoo who sang
on and on last summer—
is it he now,
or another,
calling in a voice unchanged?

Orange blossoms that came
with the fifth month—
breathing their scent,
I catch the fragrance of the sleeve
of someone from long ago

On autumn nights
the dew is
colder than ever—
in every clump of grasses
the insects weep

The great net
has been hauled in
close to shore—
how many living things
are tangled in its meshes?

No promises—yet I wait,
thinking perhaps you'll come.
If only the night
wouldn't dwindle away
but be over all at once!

When they realize it's no longer evening,
one rises to his feet
and strangles a chicken,
one rises to his feet
and strangles a pillar,
one rises to his feet
and twists up his own arms.
In response to the depth of night he schemes,
each of the night robbers
will be a night robber.
For example, the one who steps on the back
of a prostrate night robber and runs, is also
called by custom a night robber.
No matter how short
the distance night robbers run through
from beheading to whipping,

A fragrant breeze blows across the water,
stirring up the cattails grown tall.
My mat is wavy as the Hsiang River;
smoke rises like mist from a Po-shan censer.
I've been drinking less since summer's start,
since spring's end, haven't sought pleasure.
Awaking from a nap, I see the pond is quiet.
I call a child and say, “Let those baby ducks go.”

I vomit blood at year's end while laid up ill.
I just recall how my condition resembles my teacher's.
Our lives are determined by Yama's registry.
Someone useless like me is always forgotten.

WE KNEW thee of old,
Oh, divinely restored,
By the light of thine eyes
And the light of thy Sword.

From the graves of our slain
Shall thy valour prevail
As we greet thee again—
Hail, Liberty! Hail!

Long time didst thou dwell
Mid the peoples that mourn,
Awaiting some voice
That should bid thee return.

Ah, slow broke that day
And no man dared call,
For the shadow of tyranny
Lay over all:

And we saw thee sad-eyed,
The tears on thy cheeks
While thy raiment was dyed