Today, I am giving you my polished renditions of 2 poems by Li Yu, the last Emperor of the South Tang dynasty, both poems written to the tune of Xian Jian Huan 相見歡 (Happy Together), also known as Wu Ye Ti 烏夜啼 (Crows Caw at Night). These are poems or verses written to a tune the music score of which might have vanished but the pattern/tune of long and short lines remain and is adhered to. In Chinese, they are known as 詞 "ci" which could best be translated as "lyrics", however, "patterned long-short lined verses" may be prefered for being more descriptive.
The theme of these two verses is melancholy, its cause: loss of his empire and separation from his love. It is a sad melancholy, but without a single word of bitterness (with resignation?) yet still so sad, so very sad. I give you this melancholic world of the last emperor of the demised South Tang dynasty, held captive by the emperor of the new Song dynasty. (Please visit the 2 links for notes written in the original posts.)
A: Li Yu (937-978) "Xiang Jian Huan (Happy Together)/Flower groves have shed ..."
Flower groves have shed their spring red halo;
Oh, far too soon to go!
Weathering not the morning sleets and
the winds by evening blow.
Tears of rouge you're dripping,
Together our wine we're sipping;
Ever again in the morrow?
Ah, life is beset, as ever, with sorrow
as eastwards waters must flow.
Translated by Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa)
譯者: 黃宏發
14 February 2011 (revised 25.2.11; 10.3.11: 30.4.11; 22.1.2018)
http://chinesepoemsinenglish.blogspot.hk/2011/05/li-yu-xiang-jian-huanhappy-togetherwu.html
Translated from the original -
李煜: 相見歡 (林花謝了春红)
林花謝了春红
太怱怱
無奈朝來寒雨
晚來風
胭脂淚
相留醉
幾時重
自是人生長恨
水長東
B: Li Yu (937-978) "Xiang Jian Huan (Happy Together)/Alone, in silence ...)
Alone, in silence, up the west tower I go:
The moon is like a sickle;
3rd March 2011 (revised 7.3.11; 8.3.11; 4.9.12; 19.11.17)
http://chinesepoemsinenglish.blogspot.hk/2012/09/li-yu-xiang-jian-huan.html
Alone, in silence, up the west tower I go:
The moon is like a sickle;
That desolate phoenix tree, this clear, cool autumn,
locked deep in the courtyard below.
O threads I can’t cut through,
In a tangle I can’t undo!
In a tangle I can’t undo!
Such is my parting sorrow---
A taste that tastes so odd, so strange that my heart
ne’er ever before did know.
Translated by Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa)
譯者: 黃宏發
譯者: 黃宏發
Translated from the original -
李煜: 相見歡 (無言獨上西樓)
無言獨上西樓
月如鉤
月如鉤
寂寞梧桐深院
鎖清秋
剪不斷
理還亂
是離愁
別是一般滋味
在心頭
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1 comment:
Hi Andrew,
Great news about you considering a book, one I'd certainly want in my collection! If I can assist you in any way, please let me know.
I thought you may be interested in how 相見歡 is translated in the book How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology, edited by Zong-Qi Cai.
Without a word, alone I climb the West Pavilion.
The moon is like a hook.
In the lonely inner garden of wutong trees is locked late autumn.
Cut, it doesn't break,
Tidied, a mess again -
This separation grief.
It's altogether a different kind of flavour in the heart.
Somewhat less poetic than yours, I think, but lines 4 and 5 bear resemblance to the translations you previously noted by Xu Yuanzhong and Tony Barnstone.
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