China and the West

Li, Ch'ing-chao [Li, Qingzhao]. Complete poems. Transl. and ed. by Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung. [ID D32233].
Joy of Wine, to the tune 'A Dream Song'
Springs Ends, to the tune 'A Dream song'
Thoughts from the Women's Quarter, to the Tune 'The Silk Washing Brook'
To a short version of 'The Magnolia Flower'
To the tune 'Picking Mulberries'
Two Springs, to the tune 'Small Hills'
Red Plum Blossoms, to the tune 'Spring in the Jade Tower'
Plum Blossoms, to the tune 'The Honor of a Fisherman'
When the Plums by the Back Pavilion Bloomed, to the tune 'An Idle, Lovely Woman'
Peonies, to the tune 'I Celebrate the Clear Slow Dawn'
Watching Lotuses, to the tune 'Grievance against My Young Lord'
Cassia Flower, to the tune 'Partridge Sky'
Ninth Day, Ninth Month, to the tune 'Drunk with Flower Shadows'
The Beauty of White Chrysanthemums, to the tune 'Beauties'
Remorse, to the tune 'Rouged Lips'
To the tune 'The Silk Washing Brook'
On Spring, to the tune 'The Silk Washing Brook'
Spring in the Women's Quarter, to the tune 'Beautiful Nien Nu'
The Day of Cold Food, to the tune 'The Silk Washing Brook'
Thoughts from the Women's Quarter, to the tune 'The Silk Washing Brook'
To the tune 'The Bodhisattva's Headdress'
To the tune 'Happiness Approaches'
Sorrow of Departure, to the tune 'Cutting a Flowering Plum Branch'
Farewell Letter to My Sister Sent from an Inn at Lo Ch'ang, to the tune 'Butterflies love Flowers'
To the tune 'You Move in Fragrance'
Thoughts from the women's Quarter, to the tune 'Nostalgia of the Flute on the Phoenix Terrace'
Autumn Love, 'A Weary Song to a Slow Sad Tune'
"Search. Search. Seek. Seek.
Cold. Cold. Clear. Clear.
Sorrow. Sorrow. Pain. Pain.
Hot flashes. Sudden chills.
Stabbing pains. Slow agonies.
I can find no peace.
I drink two cups, then three bowls,
Of clear wine until I can't
Stand up against a gust of wind.
Wild geese fly over head.
They wrench my heart.
They were our friends in the old days.
Gold chrysanthemums litter
The ground, pile up, faded, dead.
This season I could not bear
To pick them. All alone,
Motionless at my window,
I watch the gathering shadows.
Fine rain sifts through the wu-t'ung trees,
And drips, drop by drop, through the dusk.
What can I ever do now?
How can I drive off this word —
Hopelessness?"
Spring Ends, I, to the tune 'A Complaint of My Young Lord'
Spring Ends, II, to the tune 'A Complaint to My Young Lord'
Thoughts from the Women's Quarter, to the tune 'The Boat of Stars'
To the tune 'The Bodhisattva's Headdress'
The Wu-t'ung Tree, to the tune 'Remembering the Girl of Ch'in'
Cassia Flowers, to a new version of 'The Silk Washing Brook'
Banana Trees, to the tune 'Picking Mulberries'
To the tune 'Partridge Sky'
Plum Blossoms, to the tune 'Immortals on the River Bank'
I Gave a Party to My Relatives on the Day of Purification, to the tune 'Butterflies love Flowers'
Fading Plum Blossoms, to the tune 'Perfumed Garden'
Spring Fades
To the tune 'The Perfumed Garden'
I Smell the Fragrance of Withered Plum Blossoms by My Pillow, to the tune 'Unburdening Oneself'
Spring Ends, to the tune 'Spring at Wu Ling'
To the tune 'A Song of the South'
A Song of Departure, to the tune 'Butterflies Love Flowers'
"Warm rain and soft breeze by turns
Have just broken
And driven away the chill.
Moist as the pussy willows,
Light as the plum blossoms,
Already I feel the heart of Spring vibrating.
But now who will share with me
The joys of wine and poetry?
Tears streak my rouge.
My hairpins are too heavy.
I put on my new quilted robe
Sewn with gold thread
And throw myself against a pile of pillows,
Crushing my phoenix hairpins.
Alone, all I can embrace is my endless sorrow.
I know a good dream will never come.
So I stay up till past midnight
Trimming the lamp flower’s smoking wick."
On Plum Blossoms, to the tune 'A Little Wild Goose'
Written by Chance
Sentiment
Poems on Yuen Chieh's 'Ode to the Restoration of Tang' to Rhyme with Chang Wen-ch'ien's Poem, I & II
Poems Dedicated to Lord Han, the Minister of the Council of Defense, and Lord Hu, the Minister of the Board of Works
A Satire on the Lords Who Crossed the Yangtse in Flight from the Chin Troops
On History
Written on Climbing Eight Poems Tower
Our Boat Starts at Night from the Beach of Yen Kuang
In the Emperor's Chamber
To the Empress
To an Imperial Lady
To the Imperial Concubine
Dream, to the tune 'The Honor of a Fisherman'
Written on the Seventh Day of the Seventh Month, to the tune 'You Move in Fragrance'
A Morning Dream
To the tune 'Clear Peace Happiness
Cassia Flowers, to a new version of 'The Silk Washing Brook'
At a Poetry Party I Am Given the Chih
To the tune 'Immortals on the River Bank'
To the tune 'Everlasting Joy'
"The sun sets in molten gold.
The evening clouds form a jade disk.
Where is he?
Dense white mist envelops the willows.
A sad flute plays "Falling Plum Blossoms".
How many Spring days are left now?
This Feast of Lanterns should be joyful.
The weather is calm and lovely.
But who can tell if it
Will be followed by wind and rain?
A friend sends her perfumed carriage
And high-bred horses to fetch me.
I decline the invitation of
My old poetry and wine companion.
I remember the happy days in the lost capital.
We took our ease in the women's quarters.
The Feast of Lanterns was elaborately celebrated —
Gold pendants, emerald hairpins, brocaded girdles,
New sashes — we competed
To see who was most smartly dressed.
Now I am withering away,
Wind-blown hair, frosty temples.
I am embarrassed to go out this evening
Among girls in the flower of youth.
I prefer to stay beyond the curtains,
And listen to talk and laughter
I can no longer share."