If my skirt fluttered open, / Blame the Spring wind.

[sunflower-pixie.livejournal.com]

Five Tzu Yeh Songs

I
I cannot sleep
For the blaze of the full moon.
I thought I heard here and there
A voice calling.
Hopelessly I answer "Yes."
To the empty air.

II
It is night again
I let down my silken hair
Over my shoulders
And open my thighs
Over my lover.
"Tell me, is there any part of me
That is not lovable?"

III
I had not fastened my sash over my gown,
When you asked me to look out the window.
If my skirt fluttered open,
Blame the Spring wind.



IV
The bare branches tremble
In the sudden breeze.
The twilight deepens.
My lover loves me,
And I am proud of my young beauty.

V
I am the North Pole
Steady for a thousand years.
Your sun-like heart
Goes East in the morning
And West in the evening.

poem by Tzu Yeh, a Chinese woman who wrote poetry during the 3rd - 4th centuries, found in (and the entire reason I bought the book in the first place) Women Poets of China, poems translated by Kenneth Rexroth and Ling Chung

from the contributor's notes: "There are forty-two poems in the Tzu Yeh Ko (The Songs of Tzu Yeh) attributed to a girl, Tzu Yeh. It is possible there was an original poem and melody composed by her, but the Tzu Yeh are popular folk songs of Wu, today's Kiangsu and Chekiang provinces. From the fourth to the ninth centuries the style of these poems was widely imitated - by Li Po, among others."

Comments

[petticoatlane.livejournal.com]

Those were absolutely lovely, thank you!

[achariya.livejournal.com]

That's beautiful. "I am proud of my young beauty" is such a glorious description of how that feels.

[archethereal.livejournal.com]

If only love could truly be like this today.
Beautiful.
Thank you so much for posting.

[brassdaughter.livejournal.com]

Anything Rexroth helped translate is worth a look, it seems.
I especially love III.

[amativus.livejournal.com]

Oh god, it is so very very good. Thank you.