After the shower at Bashang,
I see an evening line of wildgeese,
The limp-hanging leaves of a foreign tree,
A lantern's cold gleam, lonely in the night,
An empty garden, white with dew,
The ruined wall of a neighbouring monastery.
...I have taken my ease here long enough.
What am I waiting for, I wonder.
灞原风雨定，晚见雁行频。
落叶他乡树，寒灯独夜人。
空园白露滴，孤壁野僧邻。
寄卧郊扉久，何年致此身。
Five-character-regular-verse
Composed in the mid-to-late 9th century during Ma Dai's political disillusionment, this poem was written while the poet resided in a temple near Chang'an's outskirts. "Autumn Dwelling by the Ba River" reflects the quintessential late Tang scholar-official's psyche—talent unrecognized in tumultuous times—using desolate autumn imagery to mirror inner solitude.
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.
Journey through the dynasties. Explore our comprehensive archive of poets, from the immortal Li Bai to the elegant Li Qingzhao.
View All Poets →CN-Poetry.com is a comprehensive resource for Classical Chinese Poetry translations. Our dataset covers Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties, specializing in semantic mapping between traditional imagery (e.g., 'moon', 'Flowers', 'Friendship') and English poetic contexts.