225 王維 – 竹里館
225 WANG Wei – In a Bamboo Pavilion

中文原文﹕

獨坐幽篁里,
彈琴復長嘯;
深林人不知,
明月來相照。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

Sitting along surrounded by bamboo clusters,
I play the lyre, recite poems and versify some more;
Deep in the woods where no one would takes any notice,
There is only the moon shining on my solitude.

.


226 王維 – 送別
226 WANG Wei – Farewell

中文原文﹕

山中相送罷,
日暮掩柴扉;
春草明年綠,
王孫歸不歸?

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

After seeing you off in the mountains,
As the sun has set I shut the door to my timber hut;
Next spring when grass comes green again,
Would you, a nobleman, return to visit, I wonder?

.


227 王維 – 相思
227 WANG Wei – Yearning

中文原文﹕

紅豆生南國,
春來發幾枝;
願君多采擷,
此物最相思。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

These red beans grow only in the south,
In spring they branch away and flourish;
Why don't you harvest plentiful to cherish,
For they are most symbolising of yearning.

.


228 王維 – 雜詩
228 WANG Wei – Untitled

中文原文﹕

君自故鄉來,
應知故鄉事。
來日綺窗前,
寒梅著花未?

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

You came from home,
A bearer of home news you should be.
On the day of your departure, by your ornate window,
Did you notice any budding flowers on those winter plum trees?

.


223 沈佺期 – 古意呈補闕喬知之, 又作獨不見
223 SHEN Quanqi – To County Clerk Qiao Zhizhi in an Old Folk Song, also know as Ever Out of Sight

中文原文﹕

盧家少婦鬱金堂,
海燕雙棲玳瑁梁。
九月寒砧催木葉,
十年征戍憶遼陽。

白狼河北音書斷,
丹鳳城南秋夜長。
誰為含愁獨不見,
更教明月照流黃。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

A young woman of a blooming tulip's beauty was married to a Lu family,
Her wedded bliss was once as envied as tortoiseshell beams carved with swallows in pairs.
September's winter garment pressing sounds hurried leaves yellow and trees bare,
For ten years her husband had been at the Liaoyang front line to their country defend.

Messages from north of the White Wolf River were severed,
Autumn night south of the Red Phoenix City seemed so long extended.
Ever out of sight was the fountainhead of her ever deepening melancholy and despair,
Who couldn't be there to this moment share as the moon shined on her aureate silk dress.

.


224 王維 – 鹿柴
224 WANG Wei – A Hut in the Deer Grounds

中文原文﹕

空山不見人,
但聞人語響。
返景入深林,
復照青苔上。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

The mountains appear uninhabited with not a person in sight,
Yet I hear people talking.
Light reflects and penetrates deep into the woods,
Shining on once shady moist moss.

.


222 秦韜玉 – 貧女
222 QIN Taoyu – A Girl of Meagre Means

中文原文﹕

蓬門未識綺羅香,
擬託良媒益自傷。
誰愛風流高格調?
共憐時世儉梳妝。

敢將十指誇鍼巧,
不把雙眉鬭畫長。
苦恨年年壓金線,
為他人作嫁衣裳。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

A girl of meagre means knows not what it's like to beautiful silk brocades wear and shine,
It only further saddens her when she contemplates asking a matchmaker to a suitor find.
Who can really appreciate her virtue and merit?
For she knows to diligence maintain and the frivolous avoid in hard times.

She is confident of her hands and fingers to fine needlework produce,
She is not obsessed with having her eyebrows long and fine.
Regretfully here she remains year after year stitching embroidery,
Sewing bridal dresses for others, such is her life.

.


220 溫庭筠 – 蘇武廟
220 WEN Tingyun – At the Su Wu Shrine

中文原文﹕

蘇武魂銷漢使前,
古祠高樹兩茫然。
雲邊雁斷胡天月,
隴上羊歸塞草煙。

迴日樓臺非甲帳,
去時冠劍是丁年。
茂陵不見封侯印,
空向秋波哭逝川。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

Su Wu accepted his role as an ambassador of Han betting on his life,
Feeling at a loss, here in front of a shrine in his name flanked by lofty trees stand I.
When he was under the Hun skies and moon at clouds' edge where no wild geese flew,
In the far north he rose to herd his sheep and rested in his yurt to the wild survive.

By the time of his return all had changed, gone was the decorated alter offering blessing,
When he left, he was merely twenty donning a crest and a sword by his side.
Regretfully it wasn't Emperor Wu who bestowed him the lordship seal,
Over a river of autumn waters that shall never return like time he cried.

.


221 薛逢 – 宮詞
221 XUE Feng – Verses on Life within the Palace

中文原文﹕

十二樓中盡曉妝,
望仙樓上望君王。
鎖銜金獸連環冷,
水滴銅龍晝漏長。

雲髻罷梳還對鏡,
羅衣欲換更添香。
遙窺正殿簾開處,
袍袴宮人掃御牀。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

Within the private chambers of the palace, ladies have had their morning make-up applied,
Up on the Pavilion of Mirage they pine to greet the emperor as he arrives.
On chamber doors, off the mouths of gilded casts of creatures hang cold knocking rings,
In drops of water off the bronze dragon hourglass lapses time, prolonged seems daylight.

The ladies over and again their hair comb and into the mirror look,
More incense burn as they robes change to keep themselves occupied.
In the distance the screens to the emperor's bedchamber are raised,
There the imperial maids gather to the emperor's bed prepare and organise.

.


215 李商隱 – 無題
215 LI Shangyin – Untitled (To an Unidentified Companion)

中文原文﹕

相見時難別亦難,
東風無力百花殘。
春蠶到死絲方盡,
蠟炬成灰淚始乾。

曉鏡但愁雲鬢改,
夜吟應覺月光寒。
蓬萊此去無多路,
青鳥殷勤為探看。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

Hard to come by is spending time alone with you, making it all so hard to say goodbye,
In the tail of spring, even easterlies lack the strength to wilting blooms revive.
Silk worms spin till the end of their living days,
Burning candles turn wicks to ashes till they can no more tears of wax cry.

In the morning, you'd worry about losing the shine in your hair and your youthfulness,
Taking to poetry at night I wonder if you could feel the chill I sense of moonlight.
Like the Magic Mountains, you may not be far away but inaccessible you are nonetheless,
For tidings of you I could only on the kind-hearted blue birds rely.

.