<Header>
<Author: 白居易>
<Title: 池上閒吟二首(二)>
<Format: 七言律詩>
<Year: 1981>
<BookName: Tu Fu -A New Translation>
<Translator: Wu, Juntao>
<TranslatedTitle: Singing Idly by the Pond (second of two poems)>
<BookPage: 404>
<UsedPage: 1>
<Feature: 1, 5>
<End Header>
<Poem>
非莊非宅非蘭若
竹樹池亭十畝餘
非道非僧非俗吏
褐裘烏帽閉門居
夢游信意寧殊蝶
心樂身閒便是魚
雖未定知生與死
其間勝負兩何如
<End Poem>
<Translation>
I have neither a family homestead
Nor a religious retreat,
Although I have bamboos, a pond, a pavilion,
And more than ten acres.
I am neither a Taoist monk
Or Buddhist priest
Nor a secular official.
I wear coarse garments and a black turban
And live behind closed doors.
In dreams I frolic freely as a butterfly
Or live pleased at heart, idle in body, like a fish.
As for life and death, I'm undecided
Which is really better.
<End Translation>
<Formatted Translation>
I have neither a family homestead nor a religious retreat,
Although I have bamboos, a pond, a pavilion, and more than ten acres.
I am neither a Taoist monk or Buddhist priest nor a secular official.
I wear coarse garments and a black turban and live behind closed doors.
In dreams I frolic freely as a butterfly
Or live pleased at heart, idle in body, like a fish.
As for life and death, I'm undecided
Which is really better.
<End Formatted Translation>