Chinese Poems- Wang Wei

 

Wang Wei, was a poet during Tang Dynasty, period of great cultural glory in Chinese history. He was an accomplished musician, artist, calligrapher and poet, who wrote the classic ‘ Ballad of the Peach Tree Spring’ at seventeen.
Su Dongpo, a later poet, said ‘ there was poetry in his painting and painting in his poetry’.

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Autumn Nightfall at My Place in the Hills

In the empty mountains, after recent rains,
A sense of fall comes with the evening air.
The moon is bright and shines between the pines.
Over the stones the spring-fed stream runs clear.
Bamboos rustle: washerwomen go home.
Lotuses stir: fishing boats make their way.
At its own will, the scent of Spring has gone.
But you, ‘O prince of friends’, of course may stay.

–Wang Wei ( 701- 762)
-Translation by Vikram Seth

From ‘ Three Chinese Poets’