Winding paths through the tea ground curve and bend,
Where wild trails through the lush foliage extend.
Denser where they face the sun's warm light,
Sparser by the back stream, hidden from sight.
Slowly coiling like cloud-like locks overhead,
Clustered like small scent mounds where fragrances spread.
Where to find this secluded rendezvous?
Dawn's spring dew graces the rocks with pearls anew.
茗地曲隈回，野行多缭绕。
向阳就中密，背涧差还少。
遥盘云髻慢，乱簇香篝小。
何处好幽期，满岩春露晓。
This poem is part of a series exchanged between Lu Guimeng and his close friend Pi Rixiu (courtesy name Pimei). Both were representatives of the "late Tang recluse tradition," often composing poems on tea, landscapes, and pastoral life to express their feelings. The series Ten Odes on Tea Utensils takes tea-related tools and settings—such as tea gardens, tea cauldrons, tea stoves, tea rollers, and tea mortars—as themes, celebrating each both as objects and as vehicles for personal expression. This piece, "Tea Garden," focuses on the terrain where tea is cultivated, depicting the environment and atmosphere of tea mountains and fields. Living in the Jiangnan countryside and often engaged in tea-related activities, Lu was deeply familiar with tea gardens, resulting in a vivid and detailed portrayal filled with the leisurely spirit of reclusion.
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
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