Du Fu (杜甫)

 

《朝二首》杜甫

 

1

清旭楚宫南,霜空万岭含。野人时独往,云木晓相参。
俊鹘无声过,饥乌下食贪。病身终不动,摇落任江潭。斋

2

浦帆晨初发,郊扉冷未开。村疏黄叶坠,野静白鸥来。
础润休全湿,云晴欲半回。巫山冬可怪,昨夜有奔雷。

 


 

Mornin

translated from the classical Chinese by Brian Holton

Ane

Skreich o day at the sunnyside o the Southron Palace,
Rimie air keps a thousan rigs an bens;
Nou a kintra bodie is traivellin his lane,
Trees an haar convoyin him i the dawin.
A braw merlin passes seilintlike owreheid,
A hungert corbie comes eident doun ti feed;
A’m that dwaiblie A’ll niver muve nae mair,
A leaf tremmles, faas on the river puil.

Twa

A sail on the watterfit sets oot i the grey dawin,
Ma outlan yett’s steikit conter the cauld;
In tuim shaws, yalla leafs dounfaa,
In this lown kintra, an oncome o white sea-maas.
The pedisters is weit, but gey droukit nae mair,
The lift fairs, the clouds gae hauf-roads awa;
On Carlin Braes whit an unco winter it’s been,
Yestreen on a suddentie, hurls an hurls o thunner!

 

Skreich o day: daybreak | rimie: frosty | rig: ridge | ben: hill | kintra: country | his lane: alone | haar: fog | braw: handsome | corbie: crow | eident: watchfully | dwaiblie: weak | faas: falls | watterfit: river mouth | ootlan yett: remote gate | steikit: shut fast | tuim shaws: empty woods | lown: still | sea-maas: seagulls | pedisters: stone steps | gey droukit: drenched | lift: sky | unco: strange | hurl: roll

 


 

《夜二首》杜甫

 

1

白夜月休弦,灯花半委眠。号山无定鹿,落树有惊蝉。
暂忆江东鲙,兼怀雪下船。蛮歌犯星起,空觉在天边。斋

2

城郭悲笳暮,村墟过翼稀。甲兵年数久,赋敛夜深归。
暗树依岩落,明河绕塞微。斗斜人更望,月细鹊休飞。

 


 

Nicht

translated from the classical Chinese by Brian Holton

Ane

A white nicht, the mune past its quarter,
In the cruisie’s lowe A’ve near gien owre sleep;
Deer wi nae hames buller awa i the hills,
Fliskie chairkers wheeple in failin trees.
On a suddentie A mind o Eastwatter herrin,
Think as weill on ma auld coble in the snaa;
A fremmit sang rises ill-faur’d ti the sternies,
Yince mair A fin – it’s the en o the yirth here.

 

Twa

On the toun’s waas, dowie shawms at een,
Owre a forhooit clachan, bygaun birds few;
Airmit men’s been hereawa for years,
Upliftin the cess, they come in the howe-dumb-deid.
In the derk wuid leafs faa owre the skerrs,
The Sternie River bous faint owre the Mairches;
The Plou sklents, a bodie gauns on lookin,
The mune’s smaa, pyots flee hame nae mair.

 

Cruisie: oil lamp | lowe: glow | giwen ower: given up on | buller: roar | flisky chairkers: crickets, cicadas | wheeple: whistle | mind: memory | coble: rowing boat | snaa: snow | fremmit: foreign | ill-faur’d: unharmonious | sternies: stars | mair: more | yirth: earth | waas: walls | dowie: doleful | shawms: rays | forhooit: forsaken | clachan: village | airmit: armed | hereawa: hereabouts | cess: tax | howe-dumb-deid: dead of night | skerrs: cliffs | Plou: Plough | sklents: shines obliquely | gauns on: continues | smaa: small | pyot: magpie

 


Du Fu (杜甫) (712–770) was a prominent poet of the Tang Dynasty and is today considered, along with Li Bai (李白), China’s greatest poet.

Brian Holton is a poet, translator, and musician from the Borders. He translates poetry and prose from modern and classical Chinese into English and Scots. He has been translating one of China’s most important living poets, Yang Lian, for 25 years, and has published several collections of Yang’s work, most recently, Narrative Poem (Bloodaxe Books, 2017). His collection of classical poems in Scots, Staunin Ma Lane, was published by Shearsman Books in 2016. He makes regular appearances at literary festivals, and has lectured at universities in the UK, Europe, the USA, New Zealand, China, and elsewhere, and has won several prizes for his poetry and his translations. He sings and plays the music of the Borders, and lives in Melrose.


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