Li Ho
Li Ho Poems
The River of Heaven wheels round at night
Drifting the circling stars,
At Silver Bank*, the floating clouds
Mimic the murmur of water.
...
Flying lights, flying lights,
I pledge you a cup of wine.
I do not know if the blue heavens are high,
The yellow earth is rich,
...
Lintels hung with coarse brocade
Of scarlet woof,
Sunlight fades the rich brocade,
...
Do not plant a tree into your garden !
Trees are bringing sadness every year.
Lonely sleep, the moonlight in our window.
...
The valiant-hearted,
Riding alone on Scarlet Hare,
Out of the gates of Ch'in,
To weep at Gold Grain Mound
...
Strumming his lute, high on a crag of stone,
Sits an immortal sylph flapping his wings.
White tail-plumes of a simurgh in his hand,
...
Hsi and Ho gallop their six steeds
Days and nights leave us no leisure,
Chasing the crow to Mount Yan-zi's bamboos,
...
Silk from Wu, paulownia from Shu,
Strummed in high autumn,
In the white sky the frozen clouds
Falling, not floating.
...
Long songs have split the collar of my robe,
Short songs have cropped my whitening hair.
The king of Ch'in is nowhere to be seen,
...
A cluster of emeralds
Piercing high heaven!
Over the Great River's swelling waves
Spirits trail their mist.
...
An autumn wind blows over the earth,
The grasses die,
Mount Hua becomes a sapphire shadow
In the chill of dusk,
...
In the Mao-ling tomb lies the lad named Liu,
Guest of the autumn wind.
At night we hear his whinnying horse -
At dawn not a hoof-print there.
...
Dew upon lonely orchids
Like tear-brimmed eyes.
No twining of love-knots,
Mist-wreathed flowers I cannot bear to cut.
...
Straddling a tiger, the King of Ch'in
Roams the Eight Poles,
His glittering sword lights up the sky,
Heaven turns sapphire.
...
I
Budding branches, stems of flowers,
Blossom while I watch.
...
The autumn wilds bright,
Autumn wind white.
Pool-water deep and clear,
Insects whining,
...
Buzzing of insects through the lamp's faint glow.
Of drugs dense vapors, hov'ring in nightly chill.
...
No one attacks it with a long lance,
No one plies a strong cross-bow.
Suckling its grandsons, rearing its cubs,
It trains them into savagery.
...
Black sheen on one,
purpl' on each other side.
The Yellow Stream - all ice,
so fish and dragon died.
...
Li Ho Biography
Li He (Li Ho, 790–816), courtesy name Changji , was a short-lived Chinese poet of the late Tang Dynasty, known for his unconventional and imaginative style. A native of Changgu (modern-day Luoyang, Henan), Li was discouraged by some of his contemporaries to take the Imperial Examination owing to naming taboo: his father's name happened to sound similar to Jinshi. Encouraged by Han Yu, who admired his talent, Li took the examination, but failed it. Despite his distant royal ancestry , Li died a petty and poor official at the age of 27. There is some debate over his actual dates but according to Frodsham (1983) "the weight of evidence suggests that he was born in a Horse year, since he wrote no less that twenty-three poems in which the horse stands as a symbol for himself". About 240 poems survived. His works were admired by the poets of the late Tang Dynasty. His collected poems were prefaced by Du Mu, and a short biography was written by Li Shangyin. Although his works were admired by many during and since his life time, they were not accepted in the canonical tradition: none of his poems made their way into the popular anthologies such as the Three Hundred Tang Poems. Known as an eccentric poet, Li was dubbed Ghost of Poetry while Li Bai was called an Immortal of Poetry and Du Fu Sage of Poetry . Along with Li Bai and Li Shangyin, Li He is one of the Three Lis loved by Chairman Mao Zedong. According to Sinologist Francois Jullien Li He's poetry was readmitted "at the end of the nineteenth century ... [when] ... Western notions of romanticism [ allowed] the Chinese to reexamine this poet, allowing the symbolism of his poems to speak at last, freeing his imaginary world from the never-ending quest for insinuations.")
The Best Poem Of Li Ho
A Ballad Of Heaven
The River of Heaven wheels round at night
Drifting the circling stars,
At Silver Bank*, the floating clouds
Mimic the murmur of water.
By the Palace of Jade the cassia blossoms
Have not yet fallen,
Fairy maidens gather their fragrance
For their dangling girdle-sachets.
The Princess from Ch'in rolls up her blinds,
Dawn at the north casement.
In front of the window, a planted kolanut
Dwarfs the blue phoenix.
The King's son plays his pipes
Long as goose-quills,
Summoning dragons to plough the mist
and plant Jade Grass.
Sashes of pink as clouds at dawn.
Skirts of lotus-root silk,
They walk on Blue Island, gathering
Fresh orchids in spring.
She points to Hsi Ho in the east,
Deftly urging his steeds,
While land begins to rise from the sea
And stone hills wear away.
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4/23/2024 7:24:27 AM # 1.0.0.1119
