贺知章　回乡偶书 COMING HOME
少小离家老大回
乡音无改鬓毛衰
儿童相见不相识
笑问客从何处来
I left home young. I return old;
Speaking as then, but with hair grown thin;
And my children, meeting me, do not know me.
They smile and say: "Stranger, where do you come from?"

张旭　桃花溪 PEACH-BLOSSOM RIVER
隐隐飞桥隔野烟
石矶西畔问渔船
桃花尽日随流水
洞在清溪何处边
A bridge flies away through a wild mist,
Yet here are the rocks and the fisherman's boat.
Oh, if only this river of floating peach-petals
Might lead me at last to the mythical cave!

王维　九月九日忆山东兄弟 ON THE MOUNTAIN HOLIDAY
THINKING OF MY BROTHERS IN SHANDONG
独在异乡为异客
每逢佳节倍思亲
遥知兄弟登高处
遍插茱萸少一人
All alone in a foreign land,
I am twice as homesick on this day
When brothers carry dogwood up the mountain,
Each of them a branch-and my branch missing.

王昌龄　
芙蓉楼送辛渐 AT HIBISCUS INN
PARTING WITH XIN JIAN
寒雨连江夜入吴
平明送客楚山孤
洛阳亲友如相问
一片冰心在玉壶
With this cold night-rain hiding the river, you have come into Wu.
In the level dawn, all alone, you will be starting for the mountains of Chu.
Answer, if they ask of me at Loyang:
"One-hearted as ice in a crystal vase."

王昌龄　闺怨 IN HER QUIET WINDOW
闺中少妇不知愁
春日凝妆上翠楼
忽见陌头杨柳色
悔教夫婿觅封侯
Too young to have learned what sorrow means,
Attired for spring, she climbs to her high chamber....
The new green of the street-willows is wounding her heart --
Just for a title she sent him to war.

王昌龄　春宫曲 A SONG OF THE SPRING PALACE
昨夜风开露井桃
未央前殿月轮高
平阳歌舞新承宠
帘外春寒赐锦袍
Last night, while a gust blew peach-petals open
And the moon shone high on the Palace Beyond Time,
The Emperor gave Pingyang, for her dancing,
Brocades against the cold spring-wind.

王翰　凉州词 A SONG OF LIANGZHOU
葡萄美酒夜光杯
欲饮琵琶马上催
醉卧沙场君莫笑
古来征战几人回
They sing, they drain their cups of jade,
They strum on horseback their guitars.
...Why laugh when they fall asleep drunk on the sand ? --
How many soldiers ever come home?

李白　送孟浩然之广陵 A FAREWELL TO MENG HAORAN
ON HIS WAY TO YANGZHOU
故人西辞黄鹤楼
烟花三月下扬州
孤帆远影碧空尽
惟见长江天际流
You have left me behind, old friend, at the Yellow Crane Terrace,
On your way to visit Yangzhou in the misty month of flowers;
Your sail, a single shadow, becomes one with the blue sky,
Till now I see only the river, on its way to heaven.

李白　下江陵 THROUGH THE YANGZI GORGES
朝辞白帝彩云间
千里江陵一日还
两岸猿声啼不住
轻舟已过万重山
From the walls of Baidi high in the coloured dawn
To Jiangling by night-fall is three hundred miles,
Yet monkeys are still calling on both banks behind me
To my boat these ten thousand mountains away.

岑参　逢入京使 ON MEETING A MESSENGER TO THE CAPITAL
故园东望路漫漫
双袖龙钟泪不干
马上相逢无纸笔
凭君传语报平安
It's a long way home, a long way east.
I am old and my sleeve is wet with tears.
We meet on horseback. I have no means of writing.
Tell them three words: "He is safe."

杜甫　江南逢李龟年 ON MEETING LI GUINIAN DOWN THE RIVER
岐王宅里寻常见
崔九堂前几度闻
正是江南好风景
落花时节又逢君
I met you often when you were visiting princes
And when you were playing in noblemen's halls.
...Spring passes.... Far down the river now,
I find you alone under falling petals.

韦应物　滁州西涧 AT CHUZHOU ON THE WESTERN STREAM
独怜幽草涧边生
上有黄鹂深树鸣
春潮带雨晚来急
野渡无人舟自横
Where tender grasses rim the stream
And deep boughs trill with mango-birds,
On the spring flood of last night's rain
The ferry-boat moves as though someone were poling.

张继　枫桥夜泊 A NIGHT-MOORING NEAR MAPLE BRIDGE
月落乌啼霜满天
江枫渔火对愁眠
姑苏城外寒山寺
夜半钟声到客船
While I watch the moon go down, a crow caws through the frost;
Under the shadows of maple-trees a fisherman moves with his torch;
And I hear, from beyond Suzhou, from the temple on Cold Mountain,
Ringing for me, here in my boat, the midnight bell.

韩觕　寒食 AFTER THE DAY OF NO FIRE
春城无处不飞花
寒食东风御柳斜
日暮汉宫传蜡烛
轻烟散入五侯家
Petals of spring fly all through the city
From the wind in the willows of the Imperial River.
And at dusk, from the palace, candles are given out
To light first the mansions of the Five Great Lords.

刘方平　月夜 A MOONLIGHT NIGHT
更深月色半人家
北斗阑干南斗斜
今夜偏知春气暖
虫声新透绿窗纱
When the moon has coloured half the house,
With the North Star at its height and the South Star setting,
I can fed the first motions of the warm air of spring
In the singing of an insect at my green-silk window.

刘方平　春怨 SPRING HEART-BREAK
纱窗日落渐黄昏
金屋无人见泪痕
寂寞空庭春欲晚
梨花满地不开门
With twilight passing her silken window,
She weeps alone in her chamber of gold
For spring is departing from a desolate garden,
And a drift of pear-petals is closing a door.

柳中庸　征人怨 A TROOPER'S BURDEN
岁岁金河复玉关
朝朝马策与刀环
三春白雪归青冢
万里黄河绕黑山
For years, to guard the Jade Pass and the River of Gold,
With our hands on our horse-whips and our swordhilts,
We have watched the green graves change to snow
And the Yellow Stream ring the Black Mountain forever.

顾况　宫词 A PALACE POEM
玉楼天半起笙歌
风送宫嫔笑语和
月殿影开闻夜漏
水晶帘卷近秋河
High above, from a jade chamber, songs float half-way to heaven,
The palace-girls' gay voices are mingled with the wind --
But now they are still, and you hear a water-clock drip in the Court of the Moon....
They have opened the curtain wide, they are facing the River of Stars.

李益　夜上受降城闻笛 ON HEARING A FLUTE AT NIGHT
FROM THE WALL OF SHOUXIANG
回乐峰前沙似雪
受降城外月如霜
不知何处吹芦管
一夜征人尽望乡
The sand below the border-mountain lies like snow,
And the moon like frost beyond the city-wall,
And someone somewhere, playing a flute,
Has made the soldiers homesick all night long.

刘禹锡　乌衣巷 BLACKTAIL ROW
朱雀桥边野草花
乌衣巷口夕阳斜
旧时王谢堂前燕
飞入寻常百姓家
Grass has run wild now by the Bridge of Red-Birds;
And swallows' wings, at sunset, in Blacktail Row
Where once they visited great homes,
Dip among doorways of the poor.

刘禹锡　春词 A SPRING SONG
新妆宜面下朱楼
深锁春光一院愁
行到中庭数花朵
蜻蜓飞上玉搔头
In gala robes she comes down from her chamber
Into her courtyard, enclosure of spring....
When she tries from the centre to count the flowers,
On her hairpin of jade a dragon-fly poises.