Taking Leave of A Friend Lyrics
Blue mountains to the north of the walls,
White river winding about them;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.
Mind like a floating wide cloud,
Sunset like the parting of old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each others
as we are departing
White river winding about them;
Here we must make separation
And go out through a thousand miles of dead grass.
Mind like a floating wide cloud,
Sunset like the parting of old acquaintances
Who bow over their clasped hands at a distance.
Our horses neigh to each others
as we are departing
About
Genius Annotation
Chinese Original
送友人
青山橫北郭,白水繞東城。
此地一為別,孤篷萬裡征。
浮雲游子意,落日故人情。
揮手自茲去,蕭蕭班馬鳴。
A translation of a poem by one of China’s most famous poets – Li Bai or Li Po (李白), from the Tang Dynasty.
When Pound originally wrote these translations, collected in the book Cathay he actually did not know Chinese, but was working from the notes of the late, Orientalist scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound was using primarily a guide to character pronunciation and painstakingly literal translations along with grammatical explanations.
Needles to say, his own fluid and modern translation is an impressive feat.
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- 12.Taking Leave of A Friend
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