[updated September 2022]
Screen Painted With Ocean Scenery
题 海 图 屏 风
海 水 无 风 时
波 涛 安 悠 悠。
麟 分 无 小 大
遂 性 名 沉 浮。
突 兀 海 底 鳌
首 冠 三 神 丘。
钩 网 不 能 制
其 来 非 一 秋。
或 者 不 量 力
谓 兹 鳌 可 求。
屃 (bi) 牵 不 动
纶 绝 沉 其 钩。
一 鳌 既 顿 颔
诸 鳌 齐 掉 头。
白 涛 与 黑 浪
呼 吸 绕 咽 喉。
喷 风 激 飞 廉
豉 波 怒 阳 侯。
鲸 鲵 得 其 便
张 口 欲 香 舟。
万 里 无 活 鳞
百 川 多 倒 流。
遂 使 江 汉 水
朝 宗 意 亦 休。
苍 然 屏 风 上
此 画 良 有 由。
Ti Hai Tu Ping Feng
Hai shui wu feng shi
Bo tao an you you.
Lin jie wu xiao da
Sui xing ge chen fu.
Tu wu hai di ao
Shou guan san shen qiu.
Gou wang bu neng zhi
Qi lai fei yi qiu.
Huo zhe bu liang li
Wei zi ao de qiu.
Xi bi qian bu dong
Lun jue chen qi gou.
Yi ao ji dun han
Zhu ao qi diao tou.
Bai tao yu hei lang
Hu xi rao yan hou.
Pen feng ji fei lian
Gu bo nu yang hou.
Jing ni de qi bian
Zhang kou yu tun zhou.
Wan li wu huo lin
Bai chuan duo dao liu.
Sui shi jiang han shui
Zhao zong yi yi xiu.
Cang ran ping feng shang
Ci hua liang you you.
Screen Painted With Ocean Scenery
This screen panel has the ocean during the season of no winds
Big waves and swells numerous, yet peaceful and far away.
Fish and sea animal scales, some big and some small
In natural habitats they swim or crawl along the bottom.
Huge ao sea turtles surface from the deep ocean
Top of their heads like three Penglai island peaks.
No hooks or nets have ever been made to capture them
They appear only after many generations.
Perhaps some people think they have the power to catch them
And they can easily find these great turtles.
The stone bi turtles will not move or give way under the strain
With hooks and fishing line some believe they can be caught.
One ao turtle can take a large hook and submerge
All of the other aos turn around and leave.
Doing so they create white caps and black waves
Our throats unable to inhale or exhale.
Sprouting whales spray like airborne deities
Raging waves drummed by the wave spirits.
Male and female whales arrive and create a stir
With open mouths they can swallow boats.
For hundreds of miles no living fish moves
One hundred rivers reverse their flows.
Even the Han River basin is affected
At the dawn imperial audience, no foreign dignitaries will show up.
This large screen painting accurately done
It is so good that it must have come from a just cause, and is an important message for all of us to receive.
Notes:
[Written in 809 AD, the current emperor was Xianzong. The king of an outlying state in Hebei died in March of that year. The emperor wanted to invade and take over this territory. Bai’s advice to the emperor, through this poem, is to leave it alone.]
Ao turtles: Ancient and legendary marine turtles. According to myth, the goddess Nuwa, creator of the human race, after patching up the sky, chopped off the legs of an Ao turtle in order to support the heavens.
Bi turtles: Legendary and giant turtles used as models for items carved out of heavy stone and placed around palace buildings. Often used as a base for stone tablets, they represent strength and perseverance.
(bi): This character is not within the Microsoft database of Chinese characters. It is three 贝 (bei) characters displayed in a triangle. This is the same bi referring to the Bi turtles.