东坡 A daily walk at Dongpo, the East Slope

东坡

原作: 苏轼（字子瞻, 号东坡居士; 11世纪北宋）

英译: 闵晓红(2024.04)

雨洗东坡月色清，

市人行尽野人行。

莫嫌荦确坡头路。（荦luò确）

自爱铿然曳杖声。（铿kēng…曳yè）

A Daily Walk at Dongpo, the East Slope

Chinese original: Su Shi

English version: Julia Min (2024)

The moon reglows after rain on East Slope,

no more bustle, just an idler walking alone.

It’s a rocky trail you never get on the street—

and the clicking melody of my stick on stones.

Appreciation:

Dongpo (东坡, "East Slope")—the Daoist name Su Shi gave himself—was a barren hillside outside Huangzhou's old East Gate. For this disgraced politician, criminal exile, and accidental farmer, the muddy patch became an unlikely workshop for wisdom. As the idiom goes, out of the sloppy mess grows a pure lotus. His wife, Wang Fo, once said he had seen no enemy in his eyes. It all seemed natural—as if he were born with a broad mind and an optimistic heart. The five-year rocky journey (1079–1084) would have ruined most public figures. For Su Shi, it was a creative peak. Home is where the heart finds peace. This little poem offers a glimpse.

My translation aims to recreate an English poem that stands on its own: clean, four-beat lines, roughly iambic, with a self-possessed, slightly teasing, quietly joyful tone. "Reglows" is invented—the moon doesn't just shine again; it reglows, washed fresh by rain. "Idler" is gentle self-mockery (the busiest poet of his dynasty playing dumb). The rocky trail is no forced pun—just rough ground you never get on paved streets.

And that "And" before the last line? That's the Zen chuckle of an easy, breezy mind. It doesn't explain. It just adds: oh, and by the way—the music. The Daoist would say: the useless path is the most useful.

The East Gate and parts of the complex still stand today. I was fortunate to teach for three years at a normal institute, likely on the old East Slope itself. The Red Cliff was our morning reading venue. Every fibre of that landscape wove itself into my heart—without my realising it, until thirty years later.

Reference:

1. Picture from Google search