Monday, March 31, 2008

Chai Tou Feng (Phoenix Pin) - Lu You (陸游)

Chai Tou Feng (Phoenix Pin)
Lu You (Song Dynasty1125-1210)

Your beautiful soft hands,
And my sealed yellow wine,
Spring painted willow green, shaded all the town walls.
But the unkind east winds blew,
Swept our affection into cold.
A chest full sorrow chained me,
How many years separate grief?
Mistake! Mistake! Mistake!

Spring is the same old,
But you are getting slim,
You tears marked, wet and drenched the silk sleeve.
The peach flowers are falling,
And pond is still, the chamber is quite.
Our mountain-swear is there,
But the brocade letter will never be delivered.
Moan! Moan! Moan!

Note:
The poet’s ex-wife (her last name was Tang) did not obtained favor in the sight of her mother in law (the unkind east winds), so she was given a divorce by force, and was dismissed. And the most famous young poet could not do anything but to obey his mother’s will as filial piety, so he was separated with his beloved wife. And some years later, that some how the poet by chance visited his ex-wife Tang, and she offered him his favorite wine (she might saved it for him to come) of the old times that kindled the memories of old love that never been dispersed from the beginning, so the poet wrote one of his most famous piece as above. I am lucky to have a very kind and loving east wind that breezes mildly to me:), if I get a wife like Lu You’s wife or any wife, my east wind is gonna write emotional poem:) surely all the spring breeze!:)


Chinese:

釵頭鳳
陸游
(1125-1210)

紅酥手,
黃藤酒,
滿城春色宮牆柳。
東風惡,
歡情薄,
一懷愁緒,
幾年離索。
錯、錯、錯!


春如舊,
人空瘦,
淚痕紅邑鮫綃透。
桃花落,
閒池閣。
山盟雖在,
錦書難托。
莫、莫、莫!

Wang Hai Chao (Watching the waves)

Wang Hai Chao (Watching the waves)

By Mr. Qin Guan (1049-1100), Song Dynasty Poet
Translated by Laijon Liu


I am a piece of flying cotton,
My love is water that flows;
Once we touch, then I’ll follow him and float.
A dim moon over the garden room,
Withered light shinned thru curtain,
We together rushed into our good time.
Once the departing talk started,
Then we embraced with sobbing cry,
And tear streamed of crimson red.
But the painted barge does not remain,
So behind the green curtain,
We leaned on each other and said goodbye.


But after our separation,
How shall we ease our lovesickness?
My handkerchief, our pinewood game,
My cream, my powder, and my green chopsticks of our love days;
But please do not let other know.
For whom I’ve got this sickness?
I can only tell that autumn ends.
So please just go without doubt.
And I wish in this life we are destined
To be together, and fly shoulder to shoulder.

Note:
In Song dynasty, marriage was arranged by parents. But that bondage did not stop the young couple to fall in love, and make their own decision for their own life in private place. And this is the poem that the poet Mr. Qin Guan spoke in a voice of young maid who met her love, and revolutionarily broke the bondage of feudalism, but breaking the law or rules or tradition were not her only pursuit, only love was. I cannot believe that they lived so freely in that kind of society, and the poet was so fierce that first he picked a female as his voice and shouted thru beginning swear, the knowing night, the pain of separation, the dealing of lovesickness, the method of their covering up, and her last wish. She is my hero, so the poet.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Earth Day

Every night I dream
A rosy-fingered dawn
Raining his sunny drops
To fondle the living fruits
Hanging for the harvest day.

Dream on! They say
And they drive away;
Yet I still hope n wait.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Earth Song

I have a great mother.
Her name is Earth.

She gave birth to my life,
And built me a firm body
Through her blood and flesh.

She fulfills my thirst
With her milky streams,
Feeds my hunger
With her nutritious fruits.
She nurtures a beautiful garden,
Where all my lovely pets roam.

She is my only Mom!

-

I have a sexiest Beatle.
Her name is Earth.

Her mountains are her plump breasts.
Her valleys flow my mineral streams.
Her oceans are her sapphire eyes of living.
Her snowy clouds are her natural shampoo.
And sometimes she puts on her rainbow hairclip.

She is my sexiest maid among all!

-

I have a beautiful wife.
Her name is Earth.

On her full-grown body
Where I shed my loving sweat,
On her green pasture bed
We make love day and night;
She gives all herself to me
Through her love, faith and hope.

She suffers under my greed and violence,
But always be pregnant by my good deeds.
Her four circling seasons set period of my life,
Her lamps of day and night guide my time.

I shall sow my faithful seeds in her booting spring,
I shall adore her majestic blossom in her summer,
I shall pluck her living fruits in her harvested fall,
I shall rest and give her peace in her snowy winter.

She is my most beautiful Lady among all!

-

Earth is my Mom, my Beatle and my Wife.
She is greatest, sexiest, and most beautiful.

I born in her, live on her, and sleep in her.
I shall make her happy all my life;
I shall love her with my strength forevermore.

When her winter passes,
And her spring comes,
There sprouts a tiny tree
At the place where I rested.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Lin Jiang Xian (临江仙)

Lin Jiang Xian (临江仙)
Mr. Yang Shen (Ming Dynasty, 1488~1559)

Rolling and rolling, the Long River toward east it surged,
Billowing waves washed off so many heroes.
Victories and defeats were vanished as we looked back,
But the green mountains still stood,
And how many rosy dusk past?

The gray hair fisherman was sitting on the islet,
And used to observe autumn moon and spring wind.
A pot unfiltered wine to welcome his came across friend,
From past to present, how many stories,
Let them be shared in laughter and chat.

Note:
Ming Dynasty writer Yang Shen wrote the poem, and after, Ming Dynasty novelist Luo Guan Zhong (who wrote and edited book Romance of Three Kingdom) took it and published on the introduction poem page as the book prologue. I see some translation that does not include the poem in the book, so put here for those Three Kingdom readers to copy on the first of their page to make the novel complete.

临江仙
杨慎

滚滚长江东逝水,
浪花淘尽英雄。
是非成败转头空。
青山依旧在,
几度夕阳红。
  
白发渔樵江渚上,
惯看秋月春风。
一壶浊酒喜相逢。
古今多少事,
都付笑谈中。
  
这首词是明代文人杨慎所作,罗贯中将其录入《三国演义》后,更加广为流传。该词给人的感觉极为深沉、悲壮,意境清空、高远。

Monday, March 10, 2008

Gu Di Man - by Qin Guan (鼓笛慢)

Gu Di Man
By Song Dynasty Poet: Mr. Qin Guan (1049-1100)

In the flower bush we once held hand,
Gone in its glamor and lost in ecstasy.
But now, who locked the carved saddle,
Stopped the travelers to come and go?
A good dream goes after spring away,
All the memory, I dare not to think.
The fragrant chamber filled with love,
Graceful joys for the young couple,
Could not abide together, only grief lingers.

Night seems forever, and love never over;
Sigh for the jade chamber, when I’ll revisit?
From thousands miles away,
How shall I find return road?
I can only sing Yang Guan song.
River to the east flowed with my bitterness,
Where I should row to the road to Peach Garden?
To whom I should ask, for a clear direction,
Where I should go now?


Chinese:
鼓笛慢

乱花丛里曾携手,
穷艳景,迷欢赏。
到如今谁把,雕鞍锁定,
阻游人来往?
好梦随春远,
从前事、不堪思想。
念香闺正杳,
佳欢未偶,
难留恋、空惆怅。

永夜婵娟未满,
叹玉楼、几时重上。
那堪万里,却寻归路,
指阳关孤唱。
苦恨东流水,
桃源路、欲回双桨.
仗何人,细与丁宁问呵,
我如今怎向?