life is but a dream
NIGHT ON THE GREAT RIVER
Meng Hao-jan
Translated by Gary Snyder, Kenneth Rexroth and William Carlos Williams
II
Night on the Great River
We anchor the boat alongside a hazy island.
As the sun sets I am
overwhelmed with nostalgia.
The plain stretches away without limit.
The sky is just above the tree tops.
The river flows quietly by.
The moon comes down amongst men.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Meng Hao-jan
Translated by Gary Snyder, Kenneth Rexroth and William Carlos Williams
I
Steering my little boat
towards a misty islet,
I watch the sun descend
while my sorrows grow:
In the vast night the sky hangs lower than the treetops,
But in the blue lake the moon is coming close.
translated by William Carlos Williams
Steering my little boat
towards a misty islet,
I watch the sun descend
while my sorrows grow:
In the vast night the sky hangs lower than the treetops,
But in the blue lake the moon is coming close.
translated by William Carlos Williams
II
Night on the Great River
We anchor the boat alongside a hazy island.
As the sun sets I am
overwhelmed with nostalgia.
The plain stretches away without limit.
The sky is just above the tree tops.
The river flows quietly by.
The moon comes down amongst men.
translated by Kenneth Rexroth
Labels: Alex Katz, carl larsson, ferdinand hodler, gary snyder, hall thorpe, kenneth rexroth, Meng Hao-jan, pete seeger, peter henry emerson, poetry, walter j phillips, william carlos williams
8 Comments:
just how timeless is art? I thought the top pic was Alex Katz...wrong artist & off by a century...:)
oh evan -- what a good eye you have. i apologise and blame my incorrigibly poor notes. thing is i knew i wasn't positive that was what the cm meant in the name and i went to look it up and got caught up in something else and forgot i was looking!
but thanks for the pointer, i hope your faith in yourself is restored, and i hope i don't have to go commit hara kiri now.
LOL...I was perfectly willing to believe it was Carl Moll...just amazed that the two artists had created such similar images! Tho...not sure when/if Carl Moll would have seen a birch bark canoe...ya never know!
actually, i had it as carl moser, many of whose prints featured boats and women with white caps and black waistcoats, so at least it was a marginally informed blunder!
Other Rexroth translations (as well as many of his own writings) are online at http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth
Enjoy!
what an amazing resource -- thank you
I love the timeless quality of this post. So often I feel that I am slipping down a little river on the edge of time.
Are you going to see the King Tut exhibit?
how lovely to listen again to your lyrical voice, princess!!
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hi, and thanks so much for stopping by. i spend all too much time thinking my own thoughts about this stuff, so please tell me yours. i thrive on the exchange!
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