[updated November 2022]
Traveling Through Western Mountain Villages
游 山 西 村
莫 笑 农 家 腊 酒 浑
丰 年 留 客 足 鸡 豚。
山 重 水 复 疑 无 路
柳 暗 花 明 又 一 村。
箫 鼓 追 随 春 社 近
衣 冠 简 朴 古 风 存。
从 今 若 许 闲 乘 月
拄 杖 无 时 液 扣 门。
You Shan Xi Cun
Mo xiao nong jia la jiu hun
Feng nian liu ke zu ji tun.
Shan chong shui fu yi wu lu
Liu an hua ming you yi cun.
Xiao gu zhui sui chun she jin
Yi guan jian pu gu feng cun.
Cong jin ruo xu xian cheng yue
Zhu zhang wu shi ye kou men.
Travel Through Western Mountains Village
Farm families all laugh and enjoy their winter-cured, turbid wine
Bumper harvest this year, remaining visitors eat fattened chickens and pigs.
Mountains and rivers, layer after layer with the benefit of roads
Hidden willow tree blossoms bright beside one village.
Bamboo flutes and drums in every village with spring earth deities nearby
Simple clothes and hats, old styles and fashions still survive.
From today, moonlight allows me to leisurely ride around
When leaning on my cane late into the evening, please let me in if I knock upon your gate.
Notes:
Written in the spring of 1167 AD, when Lu was age 43. From his hometown near Shaoxing in Zhejiang Province, the western mountains are close by. He often visited the temple of Yuanmen, and therefore had to travel through these villages to get into the mountains.