雨中登岳阳楼
罗伟
危楼百尺壮苍冥，木落风高见洞庭。
楚泽三秋连雨白，君山一点扑人青。
少矜忧乐关天下，老看波涛坼地形。
底事千年犹有恨，水声日夜鼓湘灵。
（选自章雪芳主编《小楼听雨》2021--2025，杭州出版社，2026年3月第1版）
Climbing Hillshine Tower in the Rain
By By LUO Wei
Tr. LYU Wenpeng
Hundred-foot tower adds grandeur to skies;
Leaves fall, winds rise—Lake Cavehall greets the eyes.
Chu's autumn rains wash the vast marshlands white;
Junshan Isle's green flash bursts upon the sight.
Young, he grieved for the world's weal and its woe;
Old, he watches waves rend the ground below.
A thousand years on, why does grudge remain?
Waters play Xiang's sprite again and again.
Notes:
1. Hillshine Tower (Yueyang Tower): one of the Three Great Towers of south China. It was immortalized by Fan Zhongyan's (989–1052) Record of Yueyang Tower, in which he wrote: “Be the first to worry for the world, the last to share its joy.” (Tr. Xu Yuanchong). The phrase “grieved for the world's weal and its woe” in the poem echoes this ideal.
2. Lake Cavehall (Dongting Lake): located in northern Hunan Province, on the south bank of the Yangtze River's Jingjiang section. It is China's second-largest freshwater lake.
3. Chu: an ancient region roughly corresponding to present-day Hubei and Hunan provinces.
4. Junshan Isle: a small island in Dongting Lake, also known as “Princesses' Isle”. Named after the Xiang River goddesses (Ehuang and Nyuying), who wept to death upon Emperor Shun's death
5. Xiang's sprite: referring to the Xiang River goddesses (Ehuang and Nyuying), also known as Ladies of Xiang or Xiang Consorts. The legend is recorded in Qu Yuan's Nine Songs (c. 3rd century BCE), which contains the poem Lady of Xiang. She is said to play the se (zither) in lamentation, expressing eternal sorrow.
罗伟，江西弋阳人，现工作于上海。2019年获首届吴昌硕国际艺术奖诗文组二等奖，停云诗词大赛第一名，太行药乡诗词大赛第一名。
Luo Wei, a Yiyang (Jiangxi) native based in Shanghai. He won second prize in the poetry/prose category of the 2019 inaugural Wu Changshuo International Art Award, and first prizes in the Tingyun Poetry Competition and the Taihang Herbal Heartland Poetry Competition. (吕文澎 译)
