4. At Chief Minster Hun's Residence On Hearing A Song Resembling "White Linen" 

A breathtaking beauty parts kingfisher curtains
in the light of a fall moon a dragon blade is unsheathed
crimson lips whisper without making a sound
gold pipes and jade chimes echo from the palace
inciting the sky to lower the autumn heat
turning the sun to crystal in a world without bounds
and these goblets of wine, again, why are we drinking

33. River Snow

A thousand mountains and not a bird flying
ten thousand paths and not a single footprint
an old man in his raincoat in a solitary boat
fishes alone in the freezing river snow


Translator’s Note

Note on 4:  This fancy poem depicts the highlights of an evening at the minister’s residence and was written in Ch’ang-an sometime before Liu’s exile in the ninth month of 805. Hun Chien was the minister in charge of vassal state ceremonials. An odd number of lines was unusual in Chinese poetry, but Liu is emulating the seven-line song “White Linen” in which the rhyme is carried by the second, fourth, sixth, and seventh lines. The second line here refers to a sword dance, and the pipes in the fourth line were made of metal and consisted of half a dozen or more vertical tubes. Clearly, by the time he was thirty, Liu’s skill as a poet transcended the versification common among court officials. Unfortunately, we have only these four examples of his early work. (1250)

Note on 33: Written in Yungchou in the winter of 807. The Yungchou region experienced a rare and an unusually heavy snowfall that year. Until modern times, the most common foul-weather gear in China for those who worked out of doors was made from the bark of palm trees. This is Liu’s most famous poem. It’s become a staple of painters. (1221)