Clearing at Dawn

Featured in

Buy $27.99
  • Published 20140204
  • ISBN: 9781922182241
  • Extent: 300 pp
  • Paperback (234 x 153mm), eBook
Ya

A Clear Dawn
Li Po
The bush is cool, the light showers have stopped – a panorama of
Spring.
The clear waters boil with leaping trout; birds chirp, the fern fronds droop.
The bush flowers dapple their dewy petals; the hill tussocks give a
crisp salute.
Above the cabbage tree and creek, wisps of cloud gently scatter in the wind.
(translation Ya-Wen Ho)
 
Clearing at Dawn
Li Po
The fields are chill, the sparse rain has stopped;
The colours of Spring teem on every side.
With leaping fish the blue pond is full;
With singing thrushes the green boughs droop.
The flowers of the field have dabbled their powdered cheeks;
The mountain grasses are bent level at the waist.
By the bamboo stream the last fragment of cloud
Blown by the wind slowly scatters away.
(translation Arthur Waley)
 
 
Ya-Wen Ho’s essay, ‘Poetry as social experiment’, can be read in the e-book Pacific Highways: Volume 2, available free at www.griffithreview.com

Already a subscriber? Sign in here

If you are an educator or student wishing to access content for study purposes please contact us at griffithreview@griffith.edu.au

Share article

Tweet
Share
Share
Pin
0 Shares

Subscribe to great writing

Access starts at just $6 per month. Print and digital options to suit every budget!

Learn more

About the author

Ya-Wen Ho

Ya-Wen Ho is a twenty-six-year-old poet who came to New Zealand from Taiwan at the age of seven. She is a graduate of the...

More from this edition

Tectonic Z

EssayOF ALL DEVELOPED countries, New Zealand is one of the most dependent on its natural environment for earning its living; and we have lived...

Pure brightness

EssayEACH April at Pure Brightness Festival (Ching Ming) Chinese families sweep the graves and perform traditional rites to honour their ancestors. On 4–5 April...

At the crossroads

IntroductionTHE OLDEST HIGHWAY across the Pacific is perhaps as old as the planet. A jet stream circles the Pacific Rim. The amazing godwit hurtles...

Stay up to date with the latest, news, articles and special offers from Griffith Review.