To-Em-Mei’s “The Unmoving Cloud”
Ezra Pound
Track 19 on Cathay
To-Em-Mei’s “The Unmoving Cloud” Lyrics
“Wet spring time,” says To-em-mei,
“Wet spring in the garden.”
I
The clouds have gathered and gathered,
and the rain falls and falls,
The eight ply of the heavens
are all folded one darkness,
And the wide flat road stretches out.
I stop in my room towards the East, quiet, quiet,
I pat my new cask of wine.
My friends are estranged, or far distant,
I bow my head and stand still.
II
Rain, rain, and the clouds have gathered,
The eight ply of the heavens are darkness,
The flat land is turned into river.
“Wine, wine, here is wine!”
I drink by my eastern window.
I think of talking and man,
And no boat, no carriage approaches.
III
The trees in my east-looking garden
are bursting out with new twigs,
They try to stir new affection,
And men say the sun and moon keep on moving
because they can't find a soft seat.
The birds flutter to rest in my tree,
and I think I have heard them saying,
“It is not that there are no other men
But we like this fellow the best,
Yet however we long to speak
He cannot know of our sorrow.”
“Wet spring in the garden.”
I
The clouds have gathered and gathered,
and the rain falls and falls,
The eight ply of the heavens
are all folded one darkness,
And the wide flat road stretches out.
I stop in my room towards the East, quiet, quiet,
I pat my new cask of wine.
My friends are estranged, or far distant,
I bow my head and stand still.
II
Rain, rain, and the clouds have gathered,
The eight ply of the heavens are darkness,
The flat land is turned into river.
“Wine, wine, here is wine!”
I drink by my eastern window.
I think of talking and man,
And no boat, no carriage approaches.
III
The trees in my east-looking garden
are bursting out with new twigs,
They try to stir new affection,
And men say the sun and moon keep on moving
because they can't find a soft seat.
The birds flutter to rest in my tree,
and I think I have heard them saying,
“It is not that there are no other men
But we like this fellow the best,
Yet however we long to speak
He cannot know of our sorrow.”
T'ao Yuan Ming (A. D. 365- 427)
About
Genius Annotation
Tao Yuan Ming(To-Em-Mei，陶淵明), (365-427 AD), is a poet living during the Six Dynasties famous for Fields and Gardens poetry 田園詩.
Chinese Original
停雲
靄靄停雲，濛濛時雨。
八表同昏，平路伊阻。
靜寄東軒，春醪獨撫。
良朋悠邈，搔首延佇。
停雲靄靄，時雨濛濛。
八表同昏，平陸成江。
有酒有酒，閑飲東窗。
願言懷人，舟車靡從。
東園之樹，枝條再榮。
競用新好，以怡余情。
人亦有言，日月於征。
安得促席，說彼平生。
翩翩飛鳥，息我庭柯。
斂翮閑止，好聲相和。
豈無他人，念子實多。
願言不獲，抱恨如何！
Q&A
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- 19.To-Em-Mei’s “The Unmoving Cloud”
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