English Rendering
Ⅰ
To overstress resemblance of form
In painting is a childish view.
Who thinks in verse there is a norm,
To poetry he's got no clew.
In painting as in poetry,
We like what's natural and new.
Bian Luan painted birds vividly;
Zhao Chang's flowers to nature were true.
But these two pictures surpass them:
They're fairer and more elaborate.
We won't believe from a red stem
The beauty of spring can radiate.
Ⅱ
Slender bamboos look like recluse;
Like maidens blossom lonely flowers.
Birds bend the branch which they let loose,
And shaken flowers fall in showers.
They flap their wings and up they fly,
And stir all the leaves of the trees.
With nectar gathered on the thigh,
Busy are the laborious bees.
This painter has a gift for art,
His brush preserves the beauty of spring.
I think he is a poet at heart,
And wait for a reply this verse will bring.
