English Translation of Ten Ancient Poems of Li Bai (Chinese-English Xu Yuanchong)

望天门山

天门中断楚江开,碧水东流至此回。

两岸青山相对出,孤帆一片日边来。

Mount Heaven’s Gate Viewed from Afar

Breaking Mount Heaven’s Gate, the great River rolls through,

Its east-flowing green billows, hurled back here, turn north.

From the two river banks thrust out the mountains blue,

Leaving the sun behind, a lonely sail comes forth.

静夜思

床前明月光,疑是地上霜。

举头望明月,低头思故乡。

Thoughts on a Silent Night

Before my bed a pool of light —

Is it hoarfrost upon the ground?

Eyes raised, I see the moon so bright;

Head bent, in homesickness I’m drowned.

黄鹤楼送孟浩然之广陵

故人西辞黄鹤楼,

烟花三月下扬州。

孤帆远影碧空尽,

唯见长江天际流。

Seeing Meng Haoran off at Yellow Crane Tower

My friend has left the west where towers Yellow Crane

For River Town when willow-down and flowers reign.

His lessening sail is lost in boundless azure sky,

Where I see but the endless River rolling by.

登金陵凤凰台

凤凰台上凤凰游,

凤去台空江自流。

吴宫花草埋幽径,

晋代衣冠成古丘。

三山半落青天外,

二水中分白鹭洲。

总为浮云能蔽日,

长安不见使人愁。

On Phoenix Terrace at Jinling

On Phoenix Terrace once phoenixes came to sing,

The birds are gone but still roll on the river’s waves.

The ruined palace’s buried ‘neath the weeds in spring;

The ancient sages in caps and gowns all lie in graves.

The three-peak’d mountain is half lost in azure sky;

The two-fork’d stream by Egret Isle is kept apart.

As floating clouds can veil the bright sun from the eye,

Imperial Court now out of sight saddens my heart.

赠汪伦

李白乘舟将欲行,

忽闻岸上踏歌声。

桃花潭水深千尺,

不及汪伦送我情。

To Wang Lun Who Comes to Bid Me Farewell

I, Li Bai sit aboard a ship about to go,

When suddenly on shore footsteps and songs o’erflow.

The Lake of Peach Blossom is a thousand fathoms deep,

But not so deep as the friendship Wang Lun and I keep.

临终歌

大鹏飞兮振八裔,

中天摧兮力不济。

余风激兮万,

游扶桑兮挂左袂。

后人得之传此,

仲尼亡兮谁为出涕?

On Death-Bed

When flies the roc, he shakes the world.

In mid-air his weakened wings are furled.

The wind he’s raised still stirs the sea,

He hangs his left wing on sun-side tree.

Posterity mine, hear, O, hear!

Confucius dead, who’ll shed a tear?

夜宿山寺

危楼高百尺,

手可摘星辰。

不敢高声语,

恐惊天上人。

The Summit Temple

Hundred feet high the Summit Temple stands,

Where I could pluck the stars with my own hands.

At dead of night I dare not speak aloud

For fear of waking dwellers in the cloud.

望庐山瀑布

(二首其二)

日照香炉生紫烟,

遥看瀑布挂前川。

飞流直下三千尺,

疑是银河落九天。

The Waterfall in Mount Lu Viewed from Afar

(II)

The sunlit Censer Peak exhales incense-like cloud,

The cataract hangs like upended stream sounding loud.

Its torrent dashes down three thousand feet from high

As if the Silver River fell from azure sky.

峨眉山月歌

峨眉山月半轮秋,

影入平羌江水流。

夜发清溪向三峡,

思君不见下渝州。

The Moon over the Eyebrow Mountains

The crescent moon looks like old Autumn’s golden brow,

Its deep refection flows with limpid waterblue.

I’ll leave the town on Clear Stream for Three Canyons now.

O Moon, how I miss you when you are out of view!

独坐敬亭山

众鸟高飞尽,孤云独去闲。

相看两不厌,只有敬亭山。

Sitting Alone in Face of Peak Jingting

All birds have flown away, so high;

A lonely cloud drifts on, so free.

We are not tired, the Peak and I,

Nor I of him, nor he of me.

Author: listenerxu
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