Please translate this bookmark

[saiguanas]

A friend received this bookmark and we were wondering what it said. bookmark.pdfbookmark.pdf

[DecafLat]

You have quite a challenge for translators here.

First, a word on the writings. This is a poem written in the classical quatrain style, that is, a stanza of four lines, of which each consists of 7 syllables (characters). Like many other poems of this style, this particular one is rich in classical imagery and allusions. As you may have intuited from the painting, the poem is dedicated to the chrysanthemum, one of the 四君子 or "Four Gentlemen" in Chinese art. [More info on the Four can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Gentlemen]

In the original Chinese, the poem goes:

玉露霏霏丛菊香，

石阴篱落点秋光。

不须知己称陶令，

我亦南山旧酒场。

Since translating classical poetry remains a holy grail among Sinologists and is way beyond my limited capabilities, I won't attempt to achieve the same kind of beauty and of the author. My crude English version will be:

the dew falls, among the perfume of chrysanthemums;

Stones casts shadows on the fences, highlighting this autumn light;

A friend I don't need, to lead the life of Tao Qian,

Because as he did, I have here the same drinking spot as Nanshan.

陶令 refers to Tao Qian (or Tao Yuanming, or Tao Chien), a watershed figure in classical Chinese poetry and a progenitor of pastoral poetry. Nanshan was the place where he spent his life as a hermit. [More on Tao: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Yuanming]