Parting from Abbot Zan

 Hundred river daily east flow
 Traveller go again not rest
 My life bitter float drift
 What time have end limit
 Zan abbot Buddhism old
 Banish come capital
 Still by earth dust bother
 Fairly show emaciated appearance
 Willow twig morning in hand
 Bean fruit rain thereafter ripe
 This body like float cloud
 What can boundary south north
 Different county meet old friend
 New happiness write feelings
 Heaven long pass fortress cold
 Year end hunger freeze compel
 Plains wind blow travel clothes
 About to part direction sunset dark
 Horse neigh think old stable
 Return bird exhaust fold wings
 Old times gather part place
 Short time grow thorns jujube
 Mutual look together decline years
 Leave stay each strive 


 The hundred rivers flow east every day,
 The traveller keeps on moving, without rest.
 My life is one of bitterness and drift,
 What time will they finally reach their end?
 Abbot Zan, learned in Buddhist teaching,
 Banished from the capital to here.
 Still we're bothered by these earthly cares,
 Reflected in our lean and haggard faces.
 We stood one morning with willow twigs in hand;
 The beans sprouted; then rain; then they ripened again.
 The body floats along just like a cloud,
 What limit can there be, to south or north?
 I meet my old friend in a foreign region,
 Newly happy, I write what's in my breast.
 The sky is long, the fortified pass is cold,
 At the year's end, hunger and chill pursue me.
 The desert wind blows my travelling clothes,
 I'm ready to leave and journey into the sunset.
 The horse neighs, remembering its old stable,
 Returning birds have all now folded their wings.
 The places where we used to meet and part,
 Thorns and brambles have quickly covered over.
 We look at each other, both in years of decline;
 Leaving or staying, we each must do our best.

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