This is my third visit to his Pingshan Hall.
In a snap of fingers my life’s already half short.
He’s absent for ten years, gone to heaven.
Yet his cursive on the wall lives a flying dragon.
In memory of the mayor who left great writings,
We sing his ci ‘weeping willows in spring wind’.
Don’t say all things are nothing upon one’s leaving.
I’d say life’s but a dream even before one’s leaving.
三过平山堂下，半生弹指声中。
十年不见老仙翁，壁上龙蛇飞动。
欲吊文章太守，仍歌杨柳春风。
休言万事转头空，未转头时皆梦。
It was likely 1084 when Dongpo visited his favorite place again. He was at last released from his banishment at Haungzhou, now on his way north. Lord Ouyang had been a great influence on Su Shi ever since the young lad entered the Imperial Exam. The last couplet reflects the Buddist realization that the world we see is just illusion.
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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