Cedar Grove (after Wang Wei)
I sit alone among the cedars,
play my guitar and hum.
In this dark forest
no eye spies me but the moon’s.
My take on Wang Wei’s “Bamboo Grove.”
I worked from this transliteration copied somewhere along the way:
alone sit dark bamboo among
strum lute again long whistle
deep forest man not know
bright moon come mutual shine
I hope it works.
O at the Edges 
Cool take and pictures!
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Robert, it’s so instructive to see your “source document” and the lovely poem you have created from it ! Your hope was realized…it DOES work! Magically!
Ron
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Thanks, Ron. I’m glad it works for you. One never knows…
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It works beautifully!
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Well, I think it works nicely. A riff on a theme. A time-honored artistic technique.
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Beautifully written 🙂
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It does and how!
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it is lovely. also the source. thanks for sharing both
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I like poetry too. Thanks for viewing my page. I am learning the ropes here…slowly. Congratulations on your success in blogging!
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Love this. It does work. And thanks for visiting my place.
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Robert I love the serenity that this conjures. Wish I was sitting there at the moment! 🙂 SD
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Very nice.
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Robert, your translation works for me. It’s a beautiful poem. I find translating poetry from another language quite challenging.
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I’m so glad it works for you. These have been an interesting experiment, and I think I’ll continue.
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Not only does it work, it hews to the Chinese language being a stressless, syllabic language which is damned hard to do.
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It does.
Thanks for the follow.I appreciate it.
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well done
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Excellent take on that poem. Great job!
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Works for me. Well done.
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I like your choice of source material. You make rather a good job of re-creating it.
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It definitely works. I love the image of the moon’s eye. Somehow that eye seems to overlook most of my creativity – perhaps it is the soft forgiveness of dim light.
Thanks for liking my sleep-deprived post on Faith Family and Focaccia. I’m grateful for the introduction.
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cool, dig it.
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This works really well and captures Wang Wei’s tone. It also honors him, which sends strength his way.
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Lovely! Reminds us how sparse is often the more evocative; poetry after all is an intense take on the minutiae of experience 🙂
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Well said, Orlando!
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Great followers with great insights have said it all; what more can my tongue confess? Kudos
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My sons name is Cedar, this poem feels just like his personality, tranquil and patient.
Beautiful words.
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Thank you. Sounds like you have a wonderful son.
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Super interesting to see your source material and how you’ve recreated the poem so it’s right for you (cedar instead of bamboo, guitar instead of lute…). I love the tightness of the poem and the ‘no eye spies me but…’
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When I was younger I tended to write from outside my experience. Bamboo appeared in a number of my poems, while cedar did not. I’ve come to respect my surroundings more and more over the years, and my world, my habitat, slips into the writing.
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Love your work ..Congrats!!!peace
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I like your take!
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Lovely, and I can hear the bamboo rustling in that photo.
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Thanks Robert. Lovely photos. Still trying to get around the poems in my head. As a child I use to lie in the middle of a bamboo circle and watch the snakes moving among the leaves up above.
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I hadn’t pictured snakes in my cedar grove, but I know they’re there.
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This is very lovely! no eyes on me but the moon’s! Fantastic!
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I’m so pleased you approve!
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Lovely. Well done.
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How lovely and evocative!
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Thank you.
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Yes, indeed, it works and it has been so long since I spent time with Wang Wei that it was wonderful to find your blog. thank you as well for stopping by Gifts in Open Hands.
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I’ve returned to Wang Wei time and again over the past three decades. He never diminishes.
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Thank you, Robert, for liking my poetry.
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You have some very likeable poetry, Jacqueline. Thank you for stopping by.
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Hi Robert. Nice to see you visited and liked my blog again. I’d like to invite you to submit a dim sum or two or three. I think this genre might suit your “few words with much thought” style. I hope in the future to do an anthology of my favorites–with proper attribution and permission. In the meantime I’d love to see your contribution to this new form. See my blog under “dim sum” to see the form. Judy
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I may have to try that. Sounds interesting. Thanks very much.
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nice images! Thanks too for checking in again on me Blessings Keep Writing! Jeane
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Worked out so good. Its beautiful…especially about the moon as the only spy
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Thank you.
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