Three Poems for Chang’e

Chang’e

on the candlelit mica screen, a distant shadow;

Heaven's River ebbs slowly, the morning star sinks low—

Chang’e must regret stealing the elixir of life:

blue of sea, blue of sky, her dark heart, night after night

translation © Jack Hayes 2017

based on Li Shangyin: 嫦娥

Cháng'é

Mid-Autumn Moon

insects hidden under grass, frost atop the leaves;

a vermilion balcony presses against the bright lake—

the Rabbit chilled, the Toad cold, the Cassia blossoms white:

this night must be gut-wrenching for Chang’e

based on Li Shangyin: 月夕

yuè xī

Frost Moon

once expeditionary geese are heard, cicadas fall silent;

the hundred-foot tower connects river and sky—

Blue Maiden and White Lady both can endure cold;

in the moon, within frost, they compete in beauty

based on Li Shangyin:  霜月

shuāng yuè 

 

Notes:

This set of translations would be more appropriate for the Mid Autumn Festival, Zhōngqiū Jié, which is the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox. But rather wait until next September, I’m posting them now.

We have no way of knowing whether Li Shangyin intended these poems as a complementary set or as distinct & individual compositions. James JY Liu in his seminal work on the poet, The Poetry of Li Shang-yin: Ninth-Century Baroque Chinese Poet, does place the poems together & discuss them as a group. Poet David Young also places the poems together under the title “Three for the Goddess of the Moon” in his Five T'ang Poets. Since Young is a poet & not a Sinologist, I assume in grouping the poems together he is following Liu either directly or at second or third hand.

For more information on the Chang’e myth, see the Wikipedia page. Briefly, Chang’e stole the elixir of immortality & flew to the moon, where she lives with a rabbit (or hare) who pounds herbs into the elixir of immortality with a mortar & pestle & a three-legged toad. There is also a cassia tree on the moon in this myth. Chang’e is the “White Lady” mentioned in the third poem (素娥, sù é), while the Blue Maiden (青女, qīng nŭ) is Qing Nu, the Goddess of Frost & Winter.

As is the case with almost all the Chinese translations, grateful acknowledgment is due to Sheila Graham-Smith, who did a marvelous job of elucidating the first line of the first poem.

Image links to it source on Wiki Commons:

Chang'e flees to the moon: from Yoshitoshi’s 100 Aspects of the Moon. (1885-1892)

Public domain.

Sent North on a Rainy Night

Sent North on a Rainy Night

               

you ask the date of my return: there’s no date;

in the Ba mountains ponds swell with autumn rain—

when may we again trim wicks by the west window,

and speak together about Ba mountain night rain

based on Li Shangyin: 夜雨寄北

yè yŭ jì běi

Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:

“Cloudy Mountains”: Mi Youren; 1130.

Public domain.

cold thoughts

cold thoughts

my visitor’s gone: the waves reach the threshold
cicadas cut short their song in dewy branches—

thoughts always in my heart at this festival,
only myself to lean on as seasons shift—

the Big Dipper’s twice as close, & spring’s remote;
messengers are late from your home in Nanling—

here at sky’s other edge, my fate told in dreams:
I suspect you’ve strayed with a new lover


Jack Hayes
© 2016
based on Li Shangyin: 涼思
liáng sī


Image links to its source on Wiki Commons:
小寒林 ("Small Scene of Wintry Trees"): Anonymous, Song Dynasty. Hanging scroll - Ink on silk
Public domain