Wednesday, August 11, 2010

An Old Fisherman

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An Old Fisherman











An old fisherman spent the night here
under the western cliff
He dipped up water from the pure Hsiang
and made a bamboo fire
And then, at sunrise, he went his way
through the cloven mist
With only the creak of his paddle left,
in the greenness of mountain and river
... I turn and see the waves moving as from heaven,
And clouds above the cliff coming idly, one by one















An Old Fisherman

by Liu Zongyuan,
Poet of the Tang Dynasty



Top Painting by Wu Zhen
1280-1354
Painter of the Yuan Dynasty



Bottom Painting by Wang Su
1794-1877
Happy Fisherman






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29 comments:

  1. What a beautiful poem to start my day with. "..at sunrise, he went his way
    through the cloven mist
    With only the creak of his paddle left,.." This is magical.

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  2. Hi Martin

    Isn't the language wonderful - a great translation I think...

    Happy days

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  3. The translation certainly deserves a gold star!

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  4. Reading this just cloaks me in a mantle of peace. Bare essentials. No footprints. Wabi-Sabi.

    Thank you Delwyn.

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  5. Lovely, Delwyn, it has such a peaceful quality that drifts through to the end, with "clouds above the cliff coming idly, one by one"...

    Wanda

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  6. Welcome Miss Kim
    It's nice to see you here.

    Happy days

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  7. How wonderful this Tang poem is!
    I want to go camping in the place where he was.

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  8. delwyn - it's the softness, the gentleness of the visual and textual imges that is so appealing to me. beautiful. steven

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  9. Started my day off just right.

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  10. I love the same lines that Martin noted, but am always amazed at the beautiful images you find to pair with the words. Blessings, my friend.

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  11. A peaceful image and contemplative words to end my day with.

    Good Night, Delwyn.

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  12. A lovely offering, Delwyn. The poem is so spare and beautiful. It speaks of peaceful places and times.

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  13. "I turn to see the waves moving as from heaven,...." I love the impression of an unexpected surprise sight, elusive but peaceful. This was a good poem to read today. I am going to cut 'n paste to save it where I can see it when I open my computer. Thank you,

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  14. Cloven mist, and bamboo fire... love the sensory images that go so well with the paintings. So peaceful...

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  15. I love the paintings that you have found, and the poem is filled with beautiful textures, just delightful.

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  16. Lovely poem and images. The fisherman reminds me of an article in our local paper about a not so young man who fishes for lobsters the old way with oar, sail and hand hauling instead of diesel.

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  17. Hi everyone

    thanks for popping in...and a special hello to Dawn Marie...welcome to my pages


    Happy days

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  18. Also interesting expression cloven (divided) mist. There is so much stillness here.

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  19. Thanks so much for this beautiful poem by 柳宗元. It is very refreshing as well! Reading this, it reminds me that I'm always up to my neck with work to hand!
    "I turn and see the waves moving as from heaven, And clouds above the cliff coming idly,one by one"
    I love the verses!
    PS I've read your previous post!
    The Sydney Opera House is really
    fantastic!!

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  20. I absolutely love this poetry. There is something so gentle and soft and at the same time so very artistic about it.
    A work of art.

    Thanks to you I have become interested in Far Eastern art to the point where I now seek it out wherever I can rather than simply taking it in passively when it comes my way.

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  21. Hi Delwyn, This lovely poem allows me to form a picture in my mind of the Old Fisherman - I can see the "cloven mist"... I saw the art you sent Alivia - it was a wonderful surprise for her! Hope you're well.

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  22. This poem immediately made me think of my father who was an avid fisherman. He loved to push off from the bank in the gray light of dawn. He taught me how to fish & in summer I would sometimes go with him. Nice memories.

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  23. This is one of those poems that makes you want to eat the words. Which makes me wish I could hear and understand it in the original language, and have that flavor too.

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  24. Polly - that's an interesting comment but I know what you mean by it...It is almost like the poem consumes you...I have read it and re-read it so many times...each time a reader makes a comment I go back and read it again...and get sucked in once more...and am there on the bank looking up...listening and watching...

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  25. your blog is so peaceful and relaxing! it reminds me of that film 'spring, summer, autumn, winter and...spring' ... a thing of beauty!

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  26. welcome to my pages Vagabond sister and thank you for your generous kind remarks...

    Happy days

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