Classic Poems for Spring

咏柳

碧玉妆成一树高,
万条垂下绿丝绦。
不知细叶谁裁出,
二月春风似剪刀。

The Willow
The slender tree is dressed in emerald all about,
A thousand branches droop like fringes made of jade.
But do you know by whom these slim leaves are cut out?
The wind of early spring is sharp as scissor blade.

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春夜喜雨

好雨知时节,
当春乃发生。
随风潜入夜,
润物细无声。
野径云俱黑,
江船火独明。
晓看红湿处,
花重锦官城。
Happy Rain on a Spring Night
Good rain knows its time right;
It will fall when comes spring.
With wind it steals in night;
Mute, it moistens each thing.
O’er wild lanes dark cloud spreads;
In boat a lantern looms.
Dawn sees saturated reds;
The town’s heavy with blooms.

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绝句

两个黄鹂鸣翠柳,
一行白鹭上青天.
窗含西岭千秋雪,
门泊东吴万里船.
A Heptasyllabic-Quatrain
Two yellow orioles sing in the green willows;
A flock of white egrets surge up the blue sky.
In my window is framed the snow-capped peak of Mount West.
Close by my door are moored boats from faraway Wu.
(Wu: Suzhou and surrounding areas in Jiangsu Province, which is thousands of miles away from Chengdu where Du Fu lived.)

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春晓

春眠不觉晓,
处处闻啼鸟.
夜来风雨声,
花落知多少.
Dawn in Spring
Dawn was missed in a good sleep in spring;
Everywhere I hear birds sing.
Overnight,the wind and rain clamored;
How many flowers down did they bring?

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离离原上草,
一岁一枯荣。
野火烧不尽,
春风吹又生。
Grass
Boundless grasses over the plain
Each year it turns yellow, then green.
Wildfire never quite consumes them
They are tall once more in the spring wind.