中文原文﹕
孔明廟前有老柏，
柯如青銅根如石；
雙皮溜雨四十圍，
黛色參天二千尺。
君臣已與時際會，
樹木猶為人愛惜。
雲來氣接巫峽長，
月出寒通雪山白。
憶昨路繞錦亭東，
先主武侯同閟宮。
崔嵬枝干郊原古，
窈窕丹青戶牖空。
落落盤踞雖得地，
冥冥孤高多烈風。
扶持自是神明力，
正直元因造化功。
大廈如傾要梁棟，
萬年回首丘山重。
不露文章世已驚，
未辭剪伐誰能送？
苦心豈免容螻蟻？
香葉終經宿鸞鳳。
志士幽人莫怨嗟，
古來材大難為用。
英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕
In front of a shrine dedicated to Kongming stands an ancient cypress,
It has boughs that are bronze-like and roots boulder-like;
Its trunk of snow white barks and moist branches measures some forty arm lengths,
Leaves of shady green soar for some two thousand feet toward the sky.
The master and the minister have had their meet,
Ever fonder of such a tree people have grown to be.
The clouds above unite with those over the Magic Gorge,
The chill of the moon corresponds with the frosty white of the Snow Mountain range.
I'm reminded of a visit to the east of the Magnificent Pavilion some days ago,
Where shrines named after the master and the premier stand side by side.
The towering ancient cypresses there have branches reaching for time-worn fields,
Windows and doors of the shrines are lacking panes and the paintings mottled and pied.
Such an old cypress tree may be firmly grounded and well located,
Yet a solitary, lofty height is inevitably subject to more turbulent winds.
What supports them is no less than the miraculous,
Allowing them to grow upright and tall is Nature's divine will.
An imbalanced tower needs load-bearing beams and columns,
So that tens of thousands of years later they would still be stable as hills.
He flaunted not his literary skills yet he already the world astonished,
There hasn't been anyone to stop a felling for good timber, yet who dares to topple it?
How could the solid core escape from being eaten away by ants and mole crickets?
Nevertheless, amongst its fragrant leaves and boughs still rest phoenixes.
People of ideals and recluses of integrity need not complain and lament,
Those of high calibre have forever found the pursuit of a congenial employment difficult.
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