The poet stands in the Center
And stares into deep mysteries.
He's nourished by reading Classics
And tombs of the men in Histories.
He sighs as four seasons pass by
And thinks upon ten-thousand things.
He's saddened by Autumn's leaf drop
And gladdened by the tender Spring.
He feels Winter's frost on his heart,
Though his mind may be up in a cloud.
And when he sings of ancestors'
Heroic deeds, he belts the song aloud.
He combs through great literature
Just as he roams the forest wild,
But in search of a "natural" --
Shown in elegant phrase and style.
And it's just such thoughts and feelings
That set my brush and mind wheeling.
The Original Chinese:
佇中區以玄覽，頤情志於典墳。
遵四時以嘆逝，瞻萬物而思紛。
悲落葉於勁秋，喜柔條於芳春，
心懍懍以懷霜，志眇眇而臨雲。
詠世德之駿烈，誦先人之清芬。
游文章之林府，嘉麗藻之彬彬。
慨投篇而援筆，聊宣之乎斯文。
Tiger Riding for Beginners 
Do you translate poetry yourself? This is beautiful
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Thank you. Yes, unless I state an alternate source, I’ve done the translation myself.
Though, full disclosure, I do them more in an Ezra Pound — build a new poem around the bones of the old — style [i.e. taking note of others’ translations and using a Chinese dictionary / translator a lot.] My Chinese is still rudimentary (and my grasp of ancient China — This is from the Three Kingdom’s Period — even less.)
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cool! yeah I thought you might do that, with the rhymes as they are…any knowledge of Chinese, even being able to look kanji up, is pretty amazing in my book
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