Bai Juyi: Organize and Gather My Crude Poems

 

[updated September 2022]

 

Organize and Gather My Crude Poems, Produces Fifteen Scrolls, Some With No Titles, Some With Drama or Humor, Then Sent to Yuan the Ninth and Li the Twentieth

 

编 集 拙 诗 成 一 十 五 卷,因 题 卷 未,戏 赠 元 九,李 二 十
一 篇 长 恨 有 风 情
十 首 春 吟 近 正 声。
每 被 老 元 偷 格 律
苦 教 短 李 伏 歌 行。
世 间 富 贵 应 无 分
身 后 文 章 合 有 名。
莫 怪 气 粗 言 语 大
新 排 十 五 卷 诗 成。
Bian Ji Zhuo Shi Cheng Yi Shi Wu Juan, Yin Ti Juan Wei,
Xi Zeng Yuan Jiu, Li Er Shi

Yi pian chang hen you feng qing
Shi shou chun yin jin zheng sheng.
Mei bei lao yuan tou ge lu
Ku jiao duan li fu ge xing.

Shi jian fu gui ying wu fen
Shen hou wen zhang he you ming.
Mo guai qi cu yan yu da
Xin pai shi wu juan shi cheng.

Organize and Gather My Crude Poems, Produces Fifteen Scrolls, Some With No Titles, Some With Drama or Humor, Then Sent to Yuan the Ninth and Li the Twentieth

My poem Long Song of Remorse so full of thoughts and feelings
Ten springtime poems chanted with pure sounds.
Every time old Yuan the Ninth steals my classical forms
Hard to tolerate the bitterness of Li the Twentieth.

Have no affection for the wealth and honors of society
After my passing, perhaps my writings will gain some fame.
Do not be surprised if my words are big, and the characters thick
My newly collected poems now have fifteen scrolls.

 

Notes:

Long Song of Remorse: Famous long poem by Bai Juyi about the emperor Xuanzong and his consort Yang Guifei. You may refer to this site for a translation.