Zhang Jie – Water Dragon Chant

Today, we begin a quick mini series on a pair of poems. Both poems are titled “Water Dragon Chant,” the first is by Zhang Jie, the latter by Su Dongpo. The latter was written in response to the first one. Both choose a specific kind of flower as their subject. This week, Lee and Rob debate whether Zhang Jie’s poem is a nasty poem about that uses flower petals as metaphors for sperm and skeeting (please do not google this term). 

Lee’s Translation

The oriole busies about, the eagle sits lazily, the fragrance lingers, Right on top of the dyke, the willow flowers blow away. They lightly fly in every whichaway, speckling the green forest, completely lacking in spirit to get into a beauty contest. Lazily pursuing the earlier pedals, looking like dancing strands of silk, they quietly approach the inner yard, the day is long, the gate is closed. They spread higgledy-piggledy beside the pearl bead bed curtain, gradually penetrating her bed, as before, pushed in by the wind.

Through the curtains, the beauty sleeps, of course, the white stuff covers her spring clothes, the brocade bed gradually fills up, with the numberless aromatic beads, still round, about to burst. Then, she sees a bee, it raises its head and drills the pollen, there is a fish flailing around. She looks out towards the quiet on the strip with all the whores, and the rich guy is just hanging out, and her eyes brim with tears.

Rob’s Chabuduo Translation

Swallows wheel, orioles idle, fragrant flowers spoil. On the embankment, willow catkins fall to the ground. Softly drifting or wildly dancing, they color the green of the forest, entirely without creative direction, just as Han Yu wrote. The willow’s gossamer branches leisurely waft, and their catkins float into the innermost courtyard where, as the days grow long, the main gate stays closed. Pearl curtains whip to and fro, and the catkins gently try to enter in; as before, they are aided on their way by the wind. 

Behind fragrant bed-hangings a lovely young woman sleeps, her spring/sleeping gown covered in snow-white blossoms. The embroidered bed-covering is gradually covered by countless fragrant pearls, that now are round but soon will break apart. Sometimes a bee appears, its body sticky with pollen, while fish make a ruckus in the pond. The young woman looks towards the distant houses of pleasure, where a man loiters, and her eyes are filled with tears.

Original

水龙吟·杨花

燕忙莺懒芳残，正堤上柳花飘坠。轻飞乱舞，点画青林，全无才思。闲趁游丝，静临深院，日长门闭。傍珠帘散漫，垂垂欲下，依前被、风扶起。

兰帐玉人睡觉，怪春衣雪沾琼缀，绣床渐满，香球无数，才圆却碎。时见蜂儿，仰粘轻粉，鱼吞池水。望章台路杳，金鞍游荡，有盈盈泪。

As promised in the episode, here is a link to our Xi You Bu podcast.