[updated September 2022]
Spring Garden Impromptu Poem
春 园 即 事
宿 雨 乘 轻 屐
春 寒 著 敝 袍。
开 畦 分 白 水
间 柳 发 红 桃。
草 际 成 棋 局
林 端 举 桔 槔。
还 持 鹿 皮 几
日 暮 隐 蓬 蒿。
Chun Yuan Ji Shi
Su yu cheng qing ji
Chun han zhuo bi pao
Kai qi fen bai shui
Jian liu fa hong tao
Cao ji cheng qi ju
Lin duan ju jie gao
Huan chi lu pi ji
Ri mu yin peng hao.
Spring Garden Impromptu Poem
All night long rain, wearing indoor shoes
Dressed in a shabby gown during a spring chill.
Open rectangular embanked fields section the clear water
Among willows and pink budding-out peach trees.
Grass borders grow into chessboard squares
At the forest’s edge, the well sweep pole.
From my deerskin lounge chair
Sunset concealed by clumps of wormwood plants.
Notes:
Well sweep: Used to draw up water from the well, bucket at one end,
long pole at the other