Ssu-K'ung T'u (or Sikong Tu) A.D. 834-903

On the night of the 1st, I posted a rendition of "Cuicapeuhcayotl" or "Song at the Beginning," a 16th-century Nahuatl song poem. In that post, note that the translator, Daniel G. Brinton, had written this:

As in medieval tales, he who had once been admitted to fairyland, could nevermore conquer his longing to return thither, so the poet longs for some other condition of existence where the divine spirit of song may forever lift him above the trials and the littleness of this earthly life.

Here is this same message of nature poetry from L. Cranmer-Byng (1872-1945) about Ssu-K'ung T'u:

And Nature, ever prodigal to her lovers, repays their favours in full measure. To this old artist-lover she grants no petty details, no chance revelations of this or that sweetness and quality but her whole pure self. Yet such a gift is illimitable; he may only win from secret to secret and die unsatisfied.

The first ten Ssu-K'ung T'u poems below are revisions of Cranmer-Byng's translations found here: The Free Online Library: Lute of Jade: Ssu-K'ung T'u. The thematic and symbolic similarities between the ancient Nahuatl poetry and Ssu-K'ung T'u's are striking.

For the purpose of this post, I am taking the formal rhymes and inversions out of Cranmer-Byng's translations, and doing the consequential word-choice consideration. Below, after my ten renditions, are the likely superior and less corrupted versions by Cranmer-Byng.








Spring Again


A lovely maiden   roaming through the wild
and dark valley   culls lilies and blue lotus
from the glittering water.

The wind sighs though haze   into the peach trees
laden with leaves and   willows waving shadows down
oriole-haunted paths.

Enchanted with passion I follow   and hear
the springtime refrain that   what was old
                              is young again.


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Life in Colors


wanting to stay in
that rainbow brilliance

that blue by
an unfathomed sea

feminine shades blooming
from azaleas

parrots flown in
from a greener spring

snow willows
by the terrace line

the vagabond down
from black tea hills

rose light off a full
cup of wine

to live where this extends
far and away

with no dead
book dust

a spring song clear
from star to star

this
hope


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Set Free


I revel in flowers and pay no landlord.
            Like a random molecule,
            I abide in the ether,
            the world my place to dream.

I am mighty, and survey my domain
            from the ocean top
            where the winds spread to wide
            the universe at my side.

The sun, moon, and stars before me
            I hear the phoenix' song behind.
            Each morning I lash dragons
and soak my feet in Fusang.


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. . .

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Captivation


The lithe pine grove and mountain stream
            come together in the valley far below--

black-winged junks on a dreamy sea reaching to
            the powder blue sky over snow caps.

Fairer, smoother than jade, gleaming within
            the dark red wood, I follow her.

She lingers, then becomes the bird afraid of
            pirate wings, and seeks the haven hollow.

Hazy, and beyond a day's memories, I fly
            past this and into a land of clouds

as though, before the falling gold of autumn,
            before the moonglow flooding the sky.



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. . .

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In Repose


It dwells in the quiet, in what is
not seen
    on hills and in fields.

Lapped by tideless harmonies,
it soars
    with the lonely crane.

The silk skirt fluttering in a spring breeze,
the note
    from the wind on a flute--

feigning surrender when met, alluring
when sought,
    a shifting fantasy, it is gone.


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A Poet's View


The glow of April from wine, a chance rain
on a thatched roof,

white clouds in a clearing sky, flits of wings
deep in the trees,

from a green pillowed bower where tall bamboos
cast the shade,

the scholar views a flash torrent, the foam
it brings to land,

and the fallen leaves around his dream. Calm as
the chrysanthemum's star,

he reads the book that has no cover, and notes
the splendor of the season.


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. . .

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Despondent


A gale ruffles the stream,
giants crack in the forest--
my thoughts are black and bitter,
for summer cannot return.

One hundred years glide--water
eroding both rich and poor to
ashen cold. Hope for peace recedes
daily, and so goes consolation.

Undaunted, a soldier draws his sword--
into endless pain and tears.
Winds gust, leaves flutter down,
and rain drips through the old thatch roof.





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Embroideries


poverty and wealth
states of mind

gold for
gilded dust

kings aging in
dilapidating palaces

youth abiding forever
with peace

a fog hanging at
river's edge

almond flowers
along the puce bough

under a moon-swept sky
roses girdling a hut

a painted bridge
half-seen in shadows

splendors
of the poor

wine of spring
vintage of the wise

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. . .

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Concentration


A hut shadowed green among firs,
        a sun sloping in amber air,

        walking alone I bare my head
as a far thrush stirs the quiet.

No wild geese are flocking and she--ah!
        --she is far away.

        Yet all my thoughts
hold her in gold of hours gone by.

The moon-bathed islands pale, the clouds
        scarcely dim the water's sheen.

        Sweet words falter, to and fro, though
this great river rolls between.

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. . .

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Motion


A water wheel,
        a pearl rolling--
                the fool sees

the earth spinning
        to an end on a sturdy
                pole of sky.

When we blend into one,
        beyond the bounds
                of thoughts and dreams,

we are satellites
        circling the void
                in our thousand-year orbits

        and behold a key.


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L. Cranmer-Byng's translations from The Free Online Library: Lute of Jade: Ssu-K'ung T'u.



    Return of Spring


A lovely maiden, roaming
  The wild dark valley through,
Culls from the shining waters
  Lilies and lotus blue.
With leaves the peach-trees are laden,
  The wind sighs through the haze,
And the willows wave their shadows
  Down the oriole-haunted ways.
As, passion-tranced, I follow,
  I hear the old refrain
Of Spring's eternal story,
  That was old and is young again.


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    The Colour of Life


Would that we might for ever stay
The rainbow glories of the world,
The blue of the unfathomed sea,
The rare azalea late unfurled,
The parrot of a greener spring,
The willows and the terrace line,
The stranger from the night-steeped hills,
The roselit brimming cup of wine.
Oh for a life that stretched afar,
Where no dead dust of books were rife,
Where spring sang clear from star to star;
Alas! what hope for such a life?


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. . .

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    Set Free


I revel in flowers without let,
An atom at random in space;
My soul dwells in regions ethereal,
And the world is my dreaming-place.

As the tops of the ocean I tower,
As the winds of the air spreading wide,
I am 'stablished in might and dominion and power,
With the universe ranged at my side.

Before me the sun, moon, and stars,
Behind me the phoenix doth clang;
In the morning I lash my leviathans,
And I bathe my feet in Fusang.


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    Fascination


Fair is the pine grove and the mountain stream
That gathers to the valley far below,
The black-winged junks on the dim sea reach, adream,
The pale blue firmament o'er banks of snow.
And her, more fair, more supple smooth than jade,
Gleaming among the dark red woods I follow:
Now lingering, now as a bird afraid
Of pirate wings she seeks the haven hollow.
Vague, and beyond the daylight of recall,
Into the cloudland past my spirit flies,
As though before the gold of autumn's fall,
Before the glow of the moon-flooded skies.


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    Tranquil Repose


It dwells in the quiet silence,
  Unseen upon hill and plain,
'Tis lapped by the tideless harmonies,
  It soars with the lonely crane.

As the springtime breeze whose flutter
  The silken skirts hath blown,
As the wind-drawn note of the bamboo flute
  Whose charm we would make our own,--

Chance-met, it seems to surrender;
  Sought, and it lures us on;
Ever shifting in form and fantasy,
  It eludes us, and is gone.


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    The Poet's Vision


Wine that recalls the glow of spring,
Upon the thatch a sudden shower,
A gentle scholar in the bower,
Where tall bamboos their shadows fling,
White clouds in heavens newly clear,
And wandering wings through depths of trees,
Then pillowed in green shade, he sees
A torrent foaming to the mere;
Around his dreams the dead leaves fall;
Calm as the starred chrysanthemum,
He notes the season glories come,
And reads the books that never pall.


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    Despondent


A gale goes ruffling down the stream,
The giants of the forest crack;
My thoughts are bitter--black as death--
For she, my summer, comes not back.

A hundred years like water glide,
Riches and rank are ashen cold,
Daily the dream of peace recedes:
By whom shall Sorrow be consoled?

The soldier, dauntless, draws his sword,
And there are tears and endless pain;
The winds arise, leaves flutter down,
And through the old thatch drips the rain.


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    Embroideries


If rank and wealth within the mind abide,
Then gilded dust is all your yellow gold.
Kings in their fretted palaces grow old;
Youth dwells for ever at Contentment's side.
A mist cloud hanging at the river's brim,
Pink almond flowers along the purple bough,
A hut rose-girdled under moon-swept skies,
A painted bridge half-seen in shadows dim,--
These are the splendours of the poor, and thou,
O wine of spring, the vintage of the wise.


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    Concentration


A hut green-shadowed among firs,--
A sun that slopes in amber air,--
Lone wandering, my head I bare,
While some far thrush the silence stirs.

No flocks of wild geese thither fly,
And she--ah! she is far away;
Yet all my thoughts behold her stay,
As in the golden hours gone by.

The clouds scarce dim the water's sheen,
The moon-bathed islands wanly show,
And sweet words falter to and fro--
Though the great River rolls between.


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    Motion


    Like a water-wheel awhirl,
    Like the rolling of a pearl;
        Yet these but illustrate,
        To fools, the final state.
The earth's great axis spinning on,
The never-resting pole of sky--
Let us resolve their Whence and Why,
And blend with all things into One;
Beyond the bounds of thought and dream,
Circling the vasty void as spheres
Whose orbits round a thousand years:
Behold the Key that fits my theme.


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