Happy that Tea Grows in the Garden
Hulu jushi fanyi
Dedicated to Sylvia and Matthew London for their friendship and generosity
Wei Yingwu of the Tang dynasty
Happy that Tea Grows in the Garden
Its purity cannot be stained.
Drinking it washes away dust and despair.
This earthly thing truly has an unearthly allure.
My tree is originally from its home in the mountains.
Taking a bit of time from prefectural duties,
I hastily planted it in my tangled garden.
Happily, it thrived full and tall, and now through tea,
I commune with the mystic spirits.
唐 韋應物
喜園中茶生
潔性不可污
爲飲滌塵煩
此物信靈味
本自出山原
聊因理郡餘
率爾植荒園
喜隨衆草長
得與幽人言
Note
For this and other Chinese tea poems, see the forthcoming
THE SPIRIT OF TEA: An Offering To Tea Lovers
a book of photography by Matthew London
Tiger Spring Press, 2014
or go to www.spiritoftea.org
Source
Wei Yingwu 韋應物 (737-792 A.D.), “Xi yüanzhong chasheng 喜園中茶生 (Happy that Tea Grows in the Garden)” in Cao Yin 曹寅 (1658-1712 A.D.) and Peng Dingqiu 彭定求 (1645-1719 A.D.) et al., comps, Qüan Tangshi 全唐詩 (Complete Poetry of the Tang Dynasty, 1705), ch. 193, no. 55.