Looking for flowers by Tom Sharp

1. I walked by the river to look for flowers, but they didn’t help. I still felt lost. Drinking with a friend helps my epilepsy but eventually I still go home to sleep alone. 2. Spring is a wild time; flowers with their waving stamens intoxicate and bewilder me. Steep banks and bends in the river are like old men hunched over sticks, and I’m afraid of slipping. Desire for poetry and wine are driven by the same craziness; no need for anyone to urge us on. 3. A few families keep their homes by the river and they tend flowers in their gardens— red petals reflecting in white petals. Now I know how to repay the spring— nurture beauty in the deep bamboo— that and wine to banish my weary years. 4. To the east, the flowers are withered like smoke. At least one can drink, sing, dance with a prostitute, and pretend. 5. Monks are buried at the pagoda— a good place to relax in the spring and enjoy peach trees that blossom without being attended. 6. The path to my neighbor’s place is lined with flowers and trees heavy with blossoms. I walk over for a visit but I’m delayed by butterflies and orioles. 7. Peach blossoms distract me from growing old. They make their show and fall in good time, but, please, could their buds bloom more slowly?

江畔独步寻花 by 杜甫 (Du Fu)

其一江上被花恼不彻，无处告诉只颠狂。走觅南邻爱酒伴，经旬出饮独空床。其二稠花乱蕊畏江滨，行步欹危实怕春。诗酒尚堪驱使在，未须料理白头人。其三江深竹静两三家，多事红花映白花。报答春光知有处，应须美酒送生涯。其四东望少城花满烟，百花高楼更可怜。谁能载酒开金盏，唤取佳人舞绣筵。其五黄师塔前江水东，春光懒困倚微风。桃花一簇开无主，可爱深红爱浅红？其六黄四娘家花满蹊，千朵万朵压枝低。留连戏蝶时时舞，自在娇莺恰恰啼。其七不是爱花即肯死，只恐花尽老相催。繁枝容易纷纷落，嫩蕊商量细细开。