THE PINE - TO MY COUSIN

Liu Zhen

(?-217, Eastern Han Dynasty)

The pine on hill-top towers high;

The winds in the val sough and sigh.

However violent they may be,

Unshakable stands the pine-tree.

The ice and forest look sad and drear;

The tree stands straight throughout the year.

Does it not fear the biting cold?

It stands on its own as of old.

赠从弟

[东汉]刘桢

亭亭山上松,瑟瑟谷中风。

风声一何盛,松枝一何劲。

冰霜正惨凄,终岁常端正。

岂不罹凝寒？松柏有本性。

About the poet 

Liu Zhen, an Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) poet who is recognized as one of the most respected intellectual figures of his time. Beside of being a literati, he was also an erudite reader of various Chinese philosophical texts.

About the translator 

Xu Yuanchong (1921-2021) was born in Nanchang in East China's Jiangxi Province. He was a professor of literary translation at Peking University.

About the book 



Golden Treasury of Chinese Poetry in Han, Wei and Six Dynasties/ 

Translated by Xu Yuanchong 

Published by China Intercontinental Press