Wang Wei Visits Cigeng Zhang Poem by Daniel Brick
Wang Wei Visits Cigeng Zhang
A Fantasy for Cigeng
Let me pour you a cup of tea
flavored with peach. I call this tea
TRANQUILITY. How could it be otherwise
on the occasion of our first meeting?
You in the flush of youth and myself
in a vigorous old age, kept alive by
Taoist magic and my own stubborn disregard
for anything that does not promote
the happiness of life. And so it is I am
visiting you, Cigeng, on this autumn night,
and it seems to both of us to be a moment
of perfection. How could it be otherwise,
when two poets, separated by mountains of time,
find themselves in a valley of mutual presence.
Which of us has performed this Taoist magic?
Oh, how we will revel in this memory! I will
tell my friends, I have seen the future of China
in a young woman's face that radiated
the beauty of her deepest self. You will tell
your friends of an ancestor's resolve
to face the sun every morning with promises
and to face the moon every night with their fulfillment.
And thus we will share the benefits of our meeting
with everyone else. The tea is still warm and sweet...
I lived in perilous times. You know this
from the poems of my peers, Du Fu and Li Bai.
But you also know the whole of history,
spread out like a map of human lives for a thousand years,
my own life just a blink of that immensity. My heart
is troubled by what I have seen of your world.
I could always withdraw to the solitude of the mountains
and nature would sweetly restore me. But for you
I fear there is no such withdrawal, and nature is
overwhelmed in your progress. You must cultivate
a courage equal to the needs of your Destiny!
Still, I want you to remember our meeting as
an occasion of laughter, not tears; as a time
of bright tranquility, like the tea we drank;
an event in time which enhances eternity.
I want this meeting to be your Peach Blossom Spring
that will never be lost or abandoned, never decline
into winter, never dissolve into unreality. I want
it to flourish in your deepest self. I want you
to say to your friends, The spirit of Wang Wei
has lifted our spirits for a thousand years,
and he will joyfully pursue this mission
for another thousand years. How could it be otherwise?
His love for us is the Wheel-Rim River that flows
through our lives and forever refreshes us
with its goodness and longevity. How could it be otherwise! '
How sweet the tea with peach flavor! Even though winter comes, a fantastic tea time has been arranged for me, so warm and graceful. Such an amazing poem touched me a lot. Words fail me to say how I appreciate this work. Thank you Daniel. I think it's also a tribute from a western modern poet to the Tang poet Wang Wei (701 – 761) . If saying Li Bai (701 - 762) was the great romantic poet, Wang Wei, was the pastoral poet. He was also a painter and hermit. His poems were picturesque and his paintings were poetic. Wang Wei’s poems are full of artistic conception of Zen. He is really one of my most favorite Tang poets. Yes, day to day we keep learning from the Chinese classics in Tang Dynasty that has been regarded as the golden period of Chinese poetry. I feel honored to have the poem Wang Wei Visits Cigeng Zhang. I also appreciate the comments made by Bharati and Denis.Herein I’d like to share a poem by Wang Wei. Hope you like it. In the Hills White pebbles feel a blue stream glide; Red leaves are strewn on cold hillside. Along the path on rain is seen, My gown is moist with drizzling green. (tr. Prof. Xu Yuan Chong)
I want this meeting to be your Peach Blossom Spring that will never be lost or abandoned, never decline into winter, never dissolve into unreality. I want it to flourish in your deepest self. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - His love for us is the Wheel-Rim River that flows through our lives and forever refreshes us with its goodness and longevity. How could it be otherwise! '
You apply a Tang poet's worldview to your dialogue with a faraway fellow poet. At the same time, you bring this down to the humble act of sharing tea. It is beautiful to say that two poets SEPARATED BY THE MOUNTAINS OF TIME can FIND THEMSELVES IN THE VALLEY OF MUTUAL PRESENCE. The Tang poets and especially Wang Wei loved this theme. It rings true for me because the Tang poets, like us, were concerned with bridging gulfs (eternity/evanescence, near/far, past/present) . In their encounters with nature they found a language to describe the relation of finite and infinite. From the hint of peach flavor in tea (suggestive of a haven beyond worldly disorder) to the Wheel-Rim River of ongoing life, you aptly open this poem to a Taoist view of time and life. With respect to Wang Wei you write HIS LOVE FOR US IS THE WHEEL-RIM RIVER THAT FLOWS THROUGH OUR LIVES. Wang Wei humbly loved nature and sought moments of shared understanding. I think he would be surprised and pleased that you, a poet of the future, finds his work sustaining.
Your comments so nicely explains Daniel Brick's poem and his vision, that is no different from Wang wei's vision.It helps those who are not acquainted with Tang poetry..
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/17/2024 9:15:48 PM # 1.0.0.1119
I haven’t read Wang Wei that I recall....my own stubborn disregard for anything that does not promote the happiness of life. -I am attracted to this and relate. I want to explore Wang Wei. -Glen