Wang Wei

Read for LibriVox.org by Linda Marie Nielsen, Vancouver, B.C. returned from years of exile lo i find the fir-trees groaning in the dismal wind beneath i know not what lost prince's hall the field-mouse burrows in the shattered wall the rooms are dim and baleful corpse fires glare o'er mouldering walls and streak the murky air the bamboos sob a note of piping wail through autumn's gloomy damp and misty vale to yellow clay each lovely maid is turned my foot the sherds of ointment boxes spurned and where the prince's chariots once were seen stone horses now watch where his tomb has been upon the grass the singer now must sit to pour with tears the hoarseness of his song and ponder how to deep oblivion flit the men who rode the paths of battle strong the The Milky Way by Tu Fu, translated by W. J.

B. Fletcher, read for LibriVox.org by Linda Marie Nielsen, Vancouver, B.C. Often hidden, often bright, clearest on an autumn night, sometimes covered with the shroud of some fleecy streak of cloud, yet when past thou dost appear all the night both bright and clear in and out thy starry doors fly the fairies of the sky for we see them opening closing as each spirit passes by thou descendest with the moon down the high empyrean hill ah but thy most precious boon when thou holdest breathless still lest the weaver maid might miss her herd-boy lover's annual kiss flower love by wang wei

Translated by W. J.

B. Fletcher.

Read for LibriVox.org. Dost wonder if my toilet-room be shut, If in the regal halls we meet no more, I ever haunt the garden of the spring, From smiling flowers to learn their whispered lore.

Life's Road by Wang Wei.

Translated by W. J.

B. Fletcher.

That departure was the beginning of a new chapter in his life.

In Jingzhou, Zhang brought the poet Meng Haoran into his circle, while Wang Wei sent him a poem expressing gratitude to the former chancellor, and Zhang wrote some of his best-known works, including Twelve Poems of Feeling and Looking at the Moon and Thinking of Someone Far Away.

His poems of this period often use images such as orchids, solitary geese, and bitter oranges to express his sense of distance and isolation.

Against this backdrop, the opening lines of Looking at the Moon and Thinking of Someone Far Away acquire an especially poignant resonance.

Here, bamboo ceases to be a metaphor and becomes an environment, a space that nurtures tranquility and solitude.

For this, we turn to the Tang Dynasty, to the poet known as the Buddha of Poetry, Wang Wei.

Wang Wei was a devout Buddhist, and his poems are like watercolours, often depicting quiet scenes of nature that reveal profound spiritual insight.

One of his most celebrated works is Zhu Li Guan, The Bamboo Hut.

Zhuliguan, Wang Wei Duzuo youhuangli, Tanqin fuchangxiao, Shenlin renbuzhi, Mingyue laixiangzhao.

The Bamboo Hut by Wong Wei Sitting among bamboos alone, I play my lute and croon carefree.

In the deep woods where I'm unknown, Only the bright moon peeps at me.

Feel the atmosphere here.

After all that, this was a most welcome moment in Chinese history.

Li Bai, Du Fu, Wang Wei, Meng Haoran, Wang Changling, and Gao Shi were all writing their poetry during the bandwidth of that era.

Painting, architecture, fashions, philosophy were all trying out new things.

The empire had never been more cosmopolitan, and never before had there been so great an exchange of new ideas, exotic imports, foods, and manufactures.

The 730s Tang court was dominated by Zhang Zhaolin and the rise of Li Linfu.

The high Tang continued to shine bright, and the brilliance of Tang poetry was by then at its peak.

Wang Wei and Li Bai were in their 30s and already renowned in Tang society.

Du Fu was in his 20s and already living the life of a Jianghu poet.