Winter Scene
(From the Chinese of Hung Sheng, 1645-1704 CE)
Bleak, bitter landscape – lonely hamlet at the close of day.
Hear the sad wind on the unshielded plain.
The deep stream flows, though troubled by the snow.
The frozen mountain halts the roving clouds.
Gulls and egrets on the wing can scarcely be descried;
islets and sand-banks, hard to seek out with the eye.
But near the bridge a scatter of plum trees grow,
and bamboos, of the truest green, in rows.
(From ‘Beneath the Silver River: Translations from Classical Chinese Poetry)
© 2024 Dafydd Hughes Lewis. All rights reserved. 
Truly beautiful. Also a reminder that I promised my Chinese in-laws that I was going to memorize “Mulan” and recite it at a family gathering.
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Thank you, ‘Red Dragon’. It’s a stark but beautifully descriptive poem by Hung Sheng (the only poem from the Ch’ing I think I’ve translated. Would love to be present at your recital of ‘Mulan’.
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