The classic traveller's note

Marvel and disconnection in equal measure

Yellow Crane Tower
Cui Hao

On a crane, a rider flew from here,
Leaving the shell of Yellow Crane Tower.
The yellow crane never returned,
And the white clouds rolled a thousand years.
Hanyang trees dot the sunny plain,
On Parrot Bar, sweet grasses grow thick.
Like melancholy, the evening mist on water settles.
Where, from here, is my home?

崔颢  黄鹤楼
昔人已乘黄鹤去，此地空余黄鹤楼。
黄鹤一去不复返，白云千载空悠悠。
晴川历历汉阳树，芳草萋萋鹦鹉洲。
日暮乡关何处是？烟波江上使人愁。

---

Yellow Crane Tower is an ancient pagoda, already a landmark by the Tang Dynasty. This poem is supposed to have been written by Cui Hao (704-754) on a visit to the tower. Li Bai read the poem, and according to legend, was frustrated that he could not write anything as good. But he was later inspired by it to write an even greater work, about Phoenix Podium.

The poem has meter and rhyme, but English rhyming lines seemed too pat and comfortable. The disorienting combination of beauty and disappointment pushed me away from using rhyme in the translation.