Overnight on the River Fu

by Wu Xiangyang
     trs. by Fan Jinghua

Now I’m merely a scholar from the Ming Dynasty,
Writing my Tang-Dynasty poems in a Song-Dynasty script.
Those who precede me fall into the Shu State on the left and the
Ba on the right,
But they all will end in the Qin State.

The person I am destined to meet sets out from the Late Qing
Dynasty.
He is already on his way, walking backwards into time.
Spring days pay no attention to these, as if it is not in the
springtime.

The River Fu is consistent, and it stays the same but it flows.
Looking afar, I see that the light is something unfamiliar,
But darkness is something familiar in essence.