Pound vs Claussen
my translation of Pound’s City of Choan
Phoenix played here
on the cracked terrace
They are gone now
I walk by the river slowly trickling
along flowers and grass
sprouting through a
cracked stone path of Wu Palace
where robes once gleamed gold
in the sun and now only
the burned fragments remain
here where I stand
Knowing the three peaks
were not broken that day
merely covered by thick dark fog
That leaves not only I mourning
For the old Choan but also
The rising phoenix
Ezra Pounds Translation of the City of Choan
The phoenix are at play on their terrace.
The phoenix are gone, the river Hows on alone.
Flowers and grass
Cover over the dark path
where lay the dynastic house of the Go.
The bright cloths and bright caps of Shin
Are now the base of old hills.
The Three Mountains fall through the far heaven,
The isle of White Heron
splits the two streams apart.
Now the high clouds cover the sun
And I can not see Choan afar
And I am sad.
