June 2022
Author's Note: It is not so much that I have been "translating" the poetry of the Chinese masters as I have been re-imagining it. I don't speak or read Chinese, but I do read as many English translations of Chinese poems as possible and I can often see poems still locked inside those translations trying to get out. What I have been doing is finding those poems and setting them free in a way that works as poetry for me.
After Tu Mu's
"Drunken Sleep"
Well-made wine
and autumn rain.
A cold house
among the leaves.
The lonely man
will sleep a lot,
but first he pours
another cup.
After Yan Shu's"Last Year"
On this old porch
the same cup of wine.
The same melody
with new words.
The same weather
we had last year.
The same sun setting.
It also rises.
When will I see you?
The flowers keep fading.
The same swallows
keep returning.
On the same path
through my garden
I linger with
the same loneliness.
After Meng Hao-Jan's
"Seeing Off Du Shisi
South Of The River"
You travel by boat
when the water is high.
At sunset you wonder
where you will moor
under a sky so wide
it breaks your heart.
©2022 Tom Montag
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