王十朋《李》“Plums” by Wang Shipeng (1112-1171)

王十朋《李》

“Plums” by Wang Shipeng (1112-1171)

長念詩人詠子嗟，

團欒繞樹日攲斜。

冰盤行薦炎天實，

不用東陵學種瓜。

The poet’s chanting about Zijie [1] lingers in my mind,

As pairs of beads spread throughout the tree hang low day by day.

With these fruits of blazing days presented on an icy plate,

Dongling [2] need not learn to grow melons.

* From Wang Shipen, Meixi ji 梅溪集 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubansh, 1998), 15.247.

[1] Zijie alludes to the poem “Qiu zhong you ma” 丘中有麻 in the Shijing 詩經 (Book of Songs). The poem is open to various interpretations, ranging from a love song to a call for worthy recluses. Zijie may be the name of the person for whom the poet is longing, or an honorific appellation. On the slope where the poet expresses his or her longing, there are hemp, wheat and plum trees.

[2] Dongling refers to the Marquis of Dongling, Shao Ping 邵平/召平 (fl. 3rd century BCE), who lost his title at the fall of the Qin empire but made his name under the newly established Han dynasty as a successful melon grower.

Plums from my garden... and the result of having too many of them.