I took leave of you, old friend, at the
Yellow Crane Pavilion;
In the mist and bloom of March, you went
down to Yang-chou:
A lonely sail, distant shades, extinguished by blue--
There, at the horizon, where river meets sky.
To one of the greatest poems in all of Chinese literature, the unnamed translator has given neither a literal nor a literary translation. I offer my own translation: In April, the air thick with the fragrance of moist blossoms, my friend and I exchange goodbyes at Yellow Crane Tower as he departs downriver east to Yang-chou. His lone sail fades from sight until, a shadower flicker, it sinks into the blue abyss of the sky. Then I see only the long river surging through heaven gates. Trans., Stanton Hager Footnote: 'the long river' = the great Yangtze
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
....beautiful and sad saying goodbye ★