On Meeting An Old Friend... By Wei Yingwu (737—791 Ce) Poem by Eugene Levich

The visitor, Feng Zhu, came from the east,
His clothing sprinkled with drops of rain;
It had been drizzling at Ba Ling.

'Why have you come to Chang’an, ' I asked?
'To buy an axe for gathering wood in the mountains.
The wild flowers up there have peeped out
And the fledgling swallows fly, fly about.
Wasn’t it springtime, also, when last we met?
How gray our temples have grown since then! '

長安遇馮著 Chang2An1 yu4 feng2 zhu4

韋應物 Wei2 Ying4wu4

客從東方來 Ke4 cong2 dong1 fang1 lai2
衣上灞陵雨 Yi1 shang4 Ba4 Ling4 yu3
問客何為來 Wen4 ke4 he2 wei2 lai2
采山因買斧 Cai3 shan1 yin1 mai3 fu3
冥冥花正開 Ming2 ming2 hua1 zheng4 kai1
颺颺燕新乳 Yang2 yang2 yan4 xin1 ru3
昨別今已春 Zo2 bie2 jin1 yi3 chun1
鬢絲生幾縷 Bin4 si1 sheng1 ji3 lü3