“Finely Woven” [Poetry Style #14] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]

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The building blocks of everything --
   Too fine to feel or see or smell --
 Dance their way into hardened shapes
   Via forces, invisible.
 And so water flows, flowers bud,
   But - also - dew evaporates.
 This expansive path stretches on --
   It's slow-going through dark lands.
 It can't be spoken of smartly.
 It can't be pondered fruitfully.
 It's Early Spring green in sunlight,
   Or like the snow seen by moonlight.

NOTE: The late Tang Dynasty poet, Sikong Tu (a.k.a. Ssŭ-k‘ung T‘u,) wrote an ars poetica entitled Twenty-Four Styles of Poetry. It presents twenty-four poems that are each in a different tone, reflecting varied concepts from Taoist philosophy and aesthetics. Above is a translation of the fourteenth of the twenty-four poems. Translated titles vary: Giles calls it “Close Woven” and others have titled it, “Fine.”

6 thoughts on ““Finely Woven” [Poetry Style #14] by Sikong Tu [w/ Audio]”

    • The versions that I’m putting up are my own [Ezra Pound “Cathay” style] translations that I build from literal translations of the original poems (i.e. the Chinese) and whatever translations I can get my hands on. The only existing book version that I’m aware of (that’s in English) is Tony Barnstone’s — entitled “The Art of Writing.” Also, Herbert Giles translations are available in his book “A History of Chinese Literature” (available on Project Gutenberg) though they often feel more like English sonnets than Chinese poems.

      I’ve been thinking about putting them out in a larger collection, but that would be after I’ve got them all done and they would need some intense polishing / revision.

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