Qing Ming: Two Poems
清 明： 二 首
此 身 飘 泊 苦 西 东
右 臂 偏 枯 半 耳 聋。
寂 寂 系 舟 双 下 泪
悠 悠 付 枕 左 书 空。
十 年 蹴 鞠 将 雏 远
万 里 秋 千 匀 俗 同。
旅 雁 上 云 归 紫 塞
家 人 钻 火 用 青 枫。
秦 城 楼 阁 烟 花 里
汉 主 山 河 锦 绣 中。
春 水 春 来 洞 庭 阔
白 蘋 愁 杀 白 头 翁！
Qing Ming: Er Shou
Ci shen piao bo ku xi dong
You bi pian ku ban er long.
Ji ji ji zhou shuang xia lei
You you fu zhen zuo shu kong.
Shi nian cu ju jiang chu yuan
Wan li qiu qian xi su tong.
Lu yan shang yun gui zi sai
Jia ren zuan huo yong qing feng.
Qin cheng lou ge yan hua li
Han zhu shan he jin xiu zhong.
Chun shui chun lai dong ting kuo
Bai pin chou sha bai tou weng!
Qing Ming: Two Poems
This life drifts aimlessly with suffering from east to west
Right arm is numb, one ear is half deaf.
Very quiet and lonely, boat tied up, pair of tears fall down
Lean onto stacks of pillows, left hand sky writes characters in the air.
Tens years ago I could play kicking games with my children
Many autumn cycles swing back and forth, customs remain the same.
Migrating geese go into the clouds, return to eroded border strongholds
Family members trying to start a fire with green maple wood.
Qin city buildings and pavilions inside fragrant and flowered mists
Our land of mountains and rivers during Han times had embroidered silks.
Spring waters arrive into the vast Dongting Lake
White lakeside clover, such sorrows for an old white haired man!
Notes:
Qing Ming: Observed on the first day of the fifth lunar month (early April). Also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, a day when people go to, and honor the gravesites of their ancestors.
Dongting Lake: Located in northeast Hunan Province, it is a large flood basin for the Changjiang (Yangzi River).