Three Yuan Dynasty Song-Poems

Bleak Horizon
( From the Chinese of Ma Chih-yuan  [ ?1260 – ?1334 CE ] )

Shrivelled vines, aged trees; crows there in the dusk.
A little bridge, a dribbling stream, now someone’s hut.
An ancient road, the west wind, his emaciated horse…
past this heart-stricken man at the edge of the sky,
westward the twilight sun departs.


Clear River Song
( From the Chinese of Ma Chih-yuan  [ ?1260 – ?1334 CE ] )

Woodman, astir! The mountain moon hangs low!
The old fisherman has come to call on you!
You cast aside your firewood and axe.
I’ll take my time and beach my boat.
Let’s find a cosy corner to relax!


Plum Blossom Chant
( From the Chinese of Mei-hua Ne [ Yuan: no dates available ] )

Till the end of day I searched for Spring,
but Spring could not be found,
my shoes of grass worn out by treading
the mountain-tops in cloud.
When I returned I gave a smile,
for toying with plum-blossom, smelled,
already at the branch’s end –
Spring1 Multiplied ten times!



( From my collection ‘Beneath the Silver River: Translations of Classical Chinese Poetry’ )



Note: The Yuan was the Mongol-led dynasty which ruled over China 1280-1368 CE.

The first two ‘Song-Poems’, by Ma Chih-yuan, were originally taken from Yuan period drama. The tune title of the first is Sky-Clear Sand. To accord with its uncompromisingly drear content I’ve given it the poem title which appears above (this poem I took as the basis for   … to Seek, at Last, The Hollow Land which appeared very recently in The Igam-Ogam Mabinogion under the main article title Westward Walking). The title of his second, welcomingly brighter-themed poem remains that of the befitting tune-title, Clear River Song; this is one of the many early Chinese poems which extolls rustic companionship.

The third song-poem, Plum Blossom Chant, is an engaging piece which stands on its own. The poet’s name, Mei-hua Ne, translates as ‘Plum Blossom Sister’, and in the sole example I’ve come across of this poem, John Turner refers to her as ‘a Buddhist nun’, which seems appropriate and plausible enough.