RhysDone while looking at Met Museum acc.no. 1977.87. I'm trying to find a way to get that brush pen look without tearing out my hair.
Tang 010: Du Fu, "A Fine Person", aka "Alone In Her Beauty".
I made some different decisions than other translators, most obviously near the end. I've included some brief notes—future poems may have more. I read this as being sort of fatalistic, like she expects to die soon, and so I made choices that felt like they meshed with that.
But hey, I barely read any Chinese, so the other translators are probably more right.
Vaguely in imitation of Mi Youren's "Cloudy Mountains", Met Museum acc no 1973.121.1
Vaguely in imitation of a landscape by Li Kui, acc no 2024.295 at the Met Museum
Mucked about in the Notes app for 30 minutes, then spent three hours on the seals and text, lol
This is a not-very-careful copy of a painting by Liang Yuwei in the Met, acc. № 2024.297.
Tang 009: Du Fu, "To My Retired Friend Wei"
This one is interesting to me because I tried to do it without referring to any of the commentaries, and I got it a little bit wrong but mostly right. I think they're right that the middle section is about Wei's kids and not Wei going to meet his in-laws, but I like my version better.
My translation:
My opinion of Mt Tai, the ancestor of peaks?
Even those who dwell at its base don't fully understand it.
Transformative power concentrates in elegance,
Yin and Yang slice twilight and dawn.
Layers of clouds sweep from its heart,
Barely-seen birds flit out and back.
If one can withstand the climb to the peak,
One glance shows all other mountains are tiny.
Tang 008: Du Fu, A View Of Taishan
Parts of this are pretty awkward, and I had trouble figuring out the 2nd & 3rd lines. The 4th line is a reference to the Analects, I think? I'm not sure if the others are too. And the 2nd line I'm pretty sure is about Daoist magic, which doesn't translate very well.
My second reading:
The grass of Yan is new silk thread,
While in Qin the mulberries droop with leaves.
When my lord impregnated me, he left the same day.
Now this concubine's stomach is cramping.
In our lust, we didn't get acquainted.
Why did you even come into my bed?
My first reading:
The grass of Yan is new silk thread,
While in Qin the mulberries droop with leaves.
Thinking of the day my lord returns,
This lowly wife's heart breaks every hour.
Spring feelings and I aren't even acquainted.
Why disturb my gauze curtains?