刘长卿: 长沙过贾谊宅/ liu changqing: on passing jia yi's house in changsha

长沙过贾谊宅

刘长卿

三年谪宦此栖迟， 万古惟留楚客悲。

秋草独寻人去后， 寒林空见日斜时。

汉文有道恩犹薄， 湘水无情吊岂知？

寂寂江山摇落处， 怜君何事到天涯？

　

on passing jia yi's house in changsha

liu changqing

here, where you spent your three years' exile,

to be mourned in chu ten thousand years,

can i trace your footprint in the autumn grass --

or only slanting sunlight through the bleak woods?

if even good emperor wen was cold-hearted,

could you hope that the dull river xiang would understand you,

these desolate waters, these taciturn mountains,

when you came, like me, so far away?