Over old trees wreathed with rotten vines fly evening crows;
Under a small bridge near a cottage a stream flows;
On ancient road in the west wind a lean horse goes.
Westward declines the sun; Far, far from home is the heartbroken one.
枯藤老树昏鸦，小桥流水人家，古道西风瘦马。
夕阳西下，断肠人在天涯。
Ma Zhiyuan's sanqu poem "Autumn Thoughts" (秋思), composed to the metric pattern Tianjingsha (天淨沙), uses ten images in twenty-two monosyllables to preamble a state of emotion, and is considered as the penultimate[citation needed] piece in Chinese poetry to convey the typical Chinese male literati's melancholy during late autumn.
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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