May 2021
Tom Montag
tmmontag@centurylink.net
tmmontag@centurylink.net
Author's Note: The lovely thing about trying to "translate" a Han-Shan poem after reading
all of the available translations is that one begins to see truly the poem that the old master was offering
and, further, begins to understand what makes the poem what it is. I would recommend to all poets this practice
of transporting a poem from another language into English for what it teaches us about poetry's heart.
After Han-Shan's Poem #51
My mind is like an autumn moon
shining clear and bright on green water.
What else could I compare it to
when there's no other way to say it.
After Han-Shan's Poem #55
Peach blossoms
want to last
the summer
yet the wind
and the moon
don't linger.
All the men
of history
are dead now.
Blossoms fall
and they
keep falling.
Year after
year, people
keep changing.
Kick this dust:
it once was
ocean.
After Han-Shan's Poem #66
If you say nothing
your descendants
will know nothing.
If you live like
a hermit, how will
your wisdom appear?
If you don't care
for your health, wind
and cold will break you.
An ox plowing
a field of rocks
brings no harvest.
©2021 Tom Montag
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the
author (email address above) to tell her or him. You might say what it is about the poem that moves you. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual.
It is very important. -JL