Poetry
This week: Poetry by Wang Wei Edited by: Stormy Lady More Newsletters By This Editor
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This is poetry from the minds and the hearts of poets on Writing.Com. The poems I am going to be exposing throughout this newsletter are ones that I have found to be, very visual, mood setting and uniquely done. Stormy Lady |
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My Retreat at Mount Zhongnan
by Wang Wei
My heart in middle age found the Way.
And I came to dwell at the foot of this mountain.
When the spirit moves, I wander alone
Amid beauty that is all for me....
I will walk till the water checks my path,
Then sit and watch the rising clouds --
And some day meet an old wood-cutter
And talk and laugh and never return.
A Song of an Autumn Night
by Wang Wei
Under the crescent moon a light autumn dew
Has chilled the robe she will not change --
And she touches a silver lute all night,
Afraid to go back to her empty room.
Wang Wei was born in 699, his father was a government official and his mother was from a distinguished family. Wang Wei was a Buddhist and a vegetarian. He was also a great artist and a poet. Wang Wei served in the Tang court for most of his life. He worked hard for his wealth and his status. Wang Wei often donated some of his wealth to the Buddhist monasteries.
Although Wei worked hard, he found refuge in his art and poetry. He often wrote of tranquil scenes and Buddhist ideals. His paintings were way ahead of the times, they depicted quite scenes of water and mist, with very little human presence. He was one of the first to do Chinese landscape art. Wang Wei built a large estate with his wealth, which it was said that he later created a monastery on the grounds.
Wang Wei's wife died while Wang Wei was still young and his mother was said to die shortly thereafter in 750's. Wang Wei then retired to meditate, write and paint. It is said that he was captured by rebels and eventually joined their cause. Wei was imprisoned for a short time after the rebellion for his collaboration with the rebels. He was set free to live out the rest of his life.
Wang Wei died in 761. His poems were translated in 1959, by Chang Yin-nan and L. C. Walmsley.
An Evening in the Mountains
by Wang Wei
After rain the empty mountain
Stands autumnal in the evening,
Moonlight in its groves of pine,
Stones of crystal in its brooks.
Bamboos whisper of washer-girls bound home,
Lotus-leaves yield before a fisher-boat --
And what does it matter that springtime has gone,
While you are here, O Prince of Friends?
A Green Stream
By Wang Wei
I have sailed the River of Yellow Flowers,
Borne by the channel of a green stream,
Rounding ten thousand turns through the mountains
On a journey of less than thirty miles....
Rapids hum over heaped rocks;
But where light grows dim in the thick pines,
The surface of an inlet sways with nut-horns
And weeds are lush along the banks.
...Down in my heart I have always been as pure
As this limpid water is....
Oh, to remain on a broad flat rock
And to cast a fishing-line forever!
Thank you all!
Stormy Lady
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The winner of "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest" [ASR] is:
In the Land of Jaw, there once played Pretty Kitty,
A cat so silky soft, so rare, so furry and truly very well-marked.
Yet she was unhappy in her home where she slept in Peaceful Valley.
So out of the hat box she suddenly jumped from whence she embarked
on a strange journey some distance off, to be guarded by a wise old owl
who hooted at her in a high and mighty place in a magical pyramid tree,
with strong leafy limbs that nearly touched the sun as far as the eye could see.
Pretty Kitty shivered in her boots like a beast on the prowl.
Marashia.
Good friends of the forest, Racoonish, Goosy, and Uncle Deer
came to Pretty Kitty's aid as she played,
and was oft' tossed about the wide open wilderness spaces.
Wise old owl never once was one to have delayed
a good meal for her in the timeless places
in which they all lived so happily without fear.
Owl watched over Pretty Kitty with her sorcerer's powers.
Like a dinner bell her hoot-hoot-hoots
warned that nothing would dare let her die from hunger pain
as the other wild animals outguessed dangerous routes
that Pretty Kitty might run into at unusual hours.
She missed the Valley and became touched with sadness that would not wane.
Wishes to find her box were dashed as Owl hid her with the rest of those in the Wood.
Pretty Kitty was remorsefully ill so wise old owl had no recourse but to follow
her broken heart and demand that she be cured.
The other animals concurred the same in the purple nightglow.
Owl wanted to perform one of the spells to be assured
that she would be better as well she should.
So Owl sent Pretty Kitty off to the Lake Of Luminous Lilies,
with her wild animal friends by her side.
When she got there she was amazed at what she saw.
There were frogs on every one of the shining, colorful lily pads, misty-eyed.
Pretty Kitty crawled to a pad and gently swatted her paw,
at the toadiest frog she could recognize, really.
"Awaken!" said he.
Why it was the voice of a man in the skin of a frog.
Pretty Kitty, no longer just a plain old cat but more part of a plan,
was swept off her feet by a Prince who wished to take her home,
for she had kissed him sweetly with a muddy lick and a whine like a poem.
She lay on her back laughing, upside-down, quite in love with the young man,
never to miss Owl again in the Wood in an utterly bewitched fog.
So you see she was beautiful again, she was now free.
Mirashia.
Honorable Mention:
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These are the rules:
1)You must use the words I give in a poem.
2)They can be in any order and anywhere throughout the poem.
3)All entries must be posted in your portfolio and you must post the link in this forum "Stormy's poetry newsletter & contest" [ASR] by November 22, 2010.
4)The winner will get 3000 gift points and the poem will be displayed in this section of the newsletter the next time it is my turn to post. (November 27, 2005)
The words are:
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