The Small Tarn West of the Knoll
- Poetry of Liu Zongyuan

从小丘西行百二十步，隔篁竹，闻水声，如鸣佩环，心乐之。伐竹取道，下见小潭，水尤清冽。全石以为底，近岸，卷石底以出。为坻，为屿，为嵁，为岩。青树翠蔓，蒙络摇缀，参差披拂。

潭中鱼可百许头，皆若空游无所依。日光下澈，影布石上，佁然不动；俶尔远逝，往来翕忽，似与游者相乐。

潭西南而望，斗折蛇行，明灭可见。其岸势犬牙差互，不可知其源。

坐潭上，四面竹树环合，寂寥无人，凄神寒骨，悄怆幽邃。以其境过清，不可久居，乃记之而去。

同游者：吴武陵，龚古，余弟宗玄。隶而从者，崔氏二小生：曰恕己，曰奉壹。

A hundred and twenty paces west of the knoll, across the bamboos and bushes I heard with delight a gurgling like the sound made by jade bracelets. So I cut a path through the bamboos till I came upon a small pool of clear water. The bottom was of rock and a spring gushed out from the boulders near the bank. Rocks formed little islets and crags, overhung by green trees and vines which were growing in great profusion. There were about a hundred fish in the tarn, and they seemed to be gliding through empty space without support. In the sunlight which reached the bottom, casting shadows over the rocks, the fish would stay for a while motionless then suddenly dart far away. They scudded to and fro, as if sharing the visitors' delight.

Looking southwest in the chequered sunlight at the jagged, serpentine shore, you could not see the whole.

I sat by this tarn, with bamboos and trees all round me, in utter silence and solitude. The seclusion and quiet cast a chill over me; and the scene was one of such purity that I could not stay there long. So I marked the spot and left.

With me were Wu Wuling, Gong Gu, and my brother Zongxuan. And two of the Cui boys, Shuyi and Fengyi, had accompanied us to help us.