Autumn Meditations 1/8

"But these poems aren't the easiest to understand. Certainly they use
many allusions, but even more difficult is the poet's declaration of
his life's ambitions, which lends "Autumn Meditations" a deeply
autobiographical dimension that is distinct from other "songs of my
cares" poems, or "exile during the war" poems." 但是這組詩不太好懂，不僅因為用了許多典故，更是因為詩人陳述一生心事，使得《秋興》充滿自傳色彩，不同於其他的詠懷古跡之作或是描述戰亂流離的敘事詩。 -- Northbridge, March 2009

Zhang Chungui 張純桂, Illustrating Autumn Meditations, 1/8

White fall frost burns into the red maple groves,
Wu Mountain, Wu Gorge: a dark, mist-whistled forest.
Frost meets mist, surging to the skies over the Yang-tze.
Heavy clouds over the fortress dance with the shadows below.



Twice now, chrysanthemum tears bloomed in the fall,
a cry for better times,
Oh lonely boat, tethered fast to the gardens of your old home --
Listen...they're getting out the scissors,
they're measuring out the coats,
They're pounding soft the stiff fabric for the coats,
in the old fortress,
in the dusk,
chock chock chock.