Analysis of From “Nineteen Ancient Poems”

Horse cart skirrs through  the Upper East Gate

to the north          beyond the city walls    gaze

at the graves           White poplars rustle    xiao

xiao       pine      cypress       line the wide road

Dead arranged      under the trees     ceremony

darkening     darkening          the long twilight

Hidden sleep          beneath the Yellow Springs

on and on    for ten centuries      to never wake

Wave after wave     endless      yin-yang changes

allotted     years                     like morning dew

Our life is like         a brief visitation         can’t

approach         the longevity of metal       stone

Ten thousand ages      of partings and farewells

the virtuous       the sages               no one lasts

Take elixirs to seek     divine immortality      so

many harmed           by messed up concoctions

Nothing like drinking         good spirits   while

dressed up in                 diaphanous silk clothes

A visitor arrives                 from a faraway place

gives me a bolt of fine qi-silk                       Ten

thousand li         apart            this broken wife’s

heart        still yours                  Exquisite colors

of a mandarin duck pair                  cut and sew

into a Harmony-Joy quilt                       Bind it

with long-lasting cords                    hem it with

stitches                       that can never be undone

When resin           is blended into lacquer   who

could separate            the one      from the other

Translated from the Han dynasty Chinese (c. 206 BCE–220 CE), below

驅車上東門
遙望郭北墓
白楊何蕭蕭
松柏夾廣路
下有陳死人
杳杳即長暮
潛寐黃泉下
千載永不寤
浩浩陰陽移
年命如朝露
人生忽如寄
壽無金石固

客從遠方來
遺我一端綺
相去萬餘里
故人心尚爾
文采雙鴛鴦
裁為合歡被
著以長相思
緣以結不解
以膠投漆中
誰能別離此