Lodging at the Stone Creek Way-Station, Hearing a Woman Crying by Li Duan (ca. 780)

Outside the door of this mountain station is a woman,
Crying bitterly into the night clouds of autumn.
She told me her husband died in the wars;
This morning she met his general coming home.

----------

To a Friend Lost in the Tibetan War by Zhang Ji (768-830?)

Last year you were sent to garrison Yuezhi,
Soon the whole army was destroyed below the walls.
Since then, Tibet and China have been cut off, no news;
Are you dead, or alive, wandering some distant land forever?
No one went to bring back the abandoned tents;
A few horses returned with torn flags we couldn't make out.
I would have a ceremony for you, but what if you are alive?
So, all I can do is shed a few tears for you, lost at the end of the sky.

----------

On Birds and Bugs by Bai Juyi (772-846)

Mites fight bloody battles for nests on a mosquito's eyelash;
Tiny kingdoms are at war over lands on a snail's horn.
If we looked down across our own world from highest heaven,
We would see heroes fighting to the death for a speck of dust.

----------

At the Frontier by Xu Hun (791?- late 850s)

We fought all night, north of the Sanggan River;
Of our forces, half did not return.
When morning came, so did mail from home;
Families still sending dead men warm clothes for winter.

Geoff Waters is a translator of classical Chinese and Tibetan poetry. His books include: Three Elegies of Ch'u (Wisconsin, 1986) and White Crane: Love Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama (White Pine Press, 2007). He has been published in numerous anthologies and literary magazines such as Seneca Review, Poet Lore, The Literary Review. Visit www.geoffwaters.com for more information.

To comment on this piece: editors@guernicamag.com