pavilion on river
o’erwatching water’s flow
in pavilion on river
water’s flow o’erwatching
pavilion on river
centuries old
water’s o’erwatching flow
centuries old

well beneath moon
shadowed moon’s trace
in well beneath moon
moon’s trace shadowed
well beneath moon
spectre lingering
moon’s shadowed trace
lingering spectre

Translator’s Notes:
The poem “Wang Jiang Lou” (originally untitled in Chinese) is a pair of verses that arose from a drinking game. The names of the poets who composed the piece are not known. The second verse is one poet’s response to the first verse, composed by his friend. The two stanzas are bound by a clever paralleling of structure and punning. In the original, the tone is clearly playful, with the repetition of terms and sounds making it seem a little like a tongue-twister. I considered using the form of a limerick to imitate this playful element in English verse, but when incorporating the repetitions, it grew a little too unwieldy. I decided the repetitions were more at the heart of the poem, and so chose to go in that direction with my translation.

***

Shelly Bryant

Shelly splits her time between Singapore and Shanghai, sometimes teaching English literature, sometimes studying Chinese language, and always writing poetry. Shelly serves as the Book Reviews Editor for the online literary magazine Sloth Jockey, and her poems have appeared in numerous print and online magazines. Her first poetry collection, Cyborg Chimera, is due out with Sam’s Dot Publishing in October 2009. You can visit her website at http://web.me.com/shellybryant.