Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Buddhist : Zen / Chan

8th Century

About Tu Fu

Timeline (712 - 770)

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English version by
William H. Nienhauser

Original Language
Chinese

Rain, Four Poems: Two Selections

Themes

Birds

Light

Sun

Water

Recommended Books

	A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry, Edited by J. P. Seaton / Edited by Dennis Maloney
	Li Po and Tu Fu: Poems, Translated by Arthur Cooper
	The Poetry of Zen: (Shambhalla Library), Edited by Sam Hamill / Edited by J. P. Seaton
	Selected Poems of Tu Fu, Translated by David Hinton
	Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry, Edited by Wu-chi Liu / Edited by Irving Yucheng Lo

1.

Light rain doesn't slick the road;
Broken clouds slack, then move again.
The foot of racing purple cliffs -- black;
At the horizon the white birds -- bright.
The autumn sun casts damp new shadows,
On the cold river, old familiar sounds of rain.
A brushwood cottage overlooks a rustic mill;
Half wet, the fresh-hulled fragrant rice.

2.

This southern rain nourishes the mossy stones,
As it slows news from the capital.
In mountain's cold, a black bull lows;
By evening's river, a white gull cries his hunger.
Patterned hairpins of the Goddess drop;
The mermaid, sitting by her loom, mourns.
Cares will not come untangled,
Streaming down all day
In silken threads.

-- from Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry, Edited by Wu-chi Liu / Edited by Irving Yucheng Lo

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Tu Fu

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World