Li Bai: 3 Verses to the Tune of Qing and Ping (for Lady Yang) 李白: 清平調 3首

Today, the 5th day of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I am posting again my rendition of 3 verses "To the Tune of Qing and Ping (for Lady Yang)" by the great Chinese "poet immortal" Li Bai (701-762).  They had been posted here (see links) some years ago in June, August and October 2010.  I hope you will enjoy them:-


A:  Li Bai (701-762) "To the Tune of Qing and Ping (for Lady Yang) 1 of 3" 

In clouds, I think of her raiment, in flowers, see her face,
Blooming, beaming by the railing, in Zephyr’s dewy embrace.
‘Tis only on Hills of Emerald, might such a beauty be seen, else 
By moonlight at Jasper Terrace, be blest to encounter her grace.

Translated by Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa) 
譯者:黃宏發
15th January 2010 (revised 18.1.10; 20.1.10; 21.1.10; 9.2.10; 26.2.10)
http://chinesepoemsinenglish.blogspot.hk/2010/06/li-bai-1st-of-three-verses-to-qing-and.html
Translated from the original - 

李白: 清平調 3首 其1

雲想衣裳花想容
春風拂檻露華濃
若非羣玉山頭見
會向瑶臺月下逢

B:  Li Bai (701-762) "To the Tune of Qing and Ping (for Lady Yang) 2 of 3"

Ablush, abloom, O peony, your fragrance dewdrops retain!
That nymph of mists and mizzles, was a rendezvous dreamt in vain;
And who in the courts of old times, your beauty might match? I ask.
‘Twas (pity!) the pretty Feiyan, while her new paint was yet to wane.

Translated by Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa) 
譯者: 黃宏發
23rd January 2010 (revised 25.1.10; 4.2.10; 10.2.10; 7.4.10)

http://chinesepoemsinenglish.blogspot.hk/2010/08/li-bai-2nd-of-three-verses-to-qing-and.html
Translated from the original - 
李白: 清平調 3首 其2

一枝紅艷露凝香
雲雨巫山枉斷腸
借問漢宮誰得似
可憐飛燕倚新妝 

C:  Li Bai (701-762) "To the Tune of Qing and Ping (for Lady Yang) 3 of 3"

Famed peony, fairest lady----in love requited, in bliss,
With the monarch’s eyes, all smiles, to find you, never miss.
North of the Agar Pavilion, by the railing together you lean,
Zephyr’s moods melancholic, to dispel, disperse, dismiss.

Translated by Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa) 
譯者: 黄宏發
7th April 2010 (revised 8.4.10; 15.10.10) 

http://chinesepoemsinenglish.blogspot.hk/2010/10/li-bai-3rd-of-3-verses-to-qing-ping.html
Translated from the original - 

李白: 清平調 3首 其3

名花傾國兩相歡
長得君王帶笑看
解釋春風無限恨
沈香亭北倚闌干

劉禹錫 Liu Yuxi: 石頭城/金陵五題 其一 The Stone City /Five Titles on Jinling #1

Today, I am posting a poem on the "Stone City" (present day Nanjing, then called Jinling 金陵) by the great middle Tang dynasty poet Liu Yuxi 劉禹鍚 which I translated last February.  I do hope you will enjoy my rendition:-

Liu Yuxi: The Stone City/Five Titles on Jinling #1

1   Surrounded by hills, this old capital, its environs still in place---   

2   Flood-tides still storm the empty city, and ebb, and quiet befalls.

3   East of the waters of Qinhuai River, that same old ancient moon,

4   Deep in the night, still climbs across the jagged battlement walls.

Translated by Andrew W.F. Wong (Huang Hongfa)      譯者: 黃宏發

3^rd February 2017

Translated from the original – 劉禹錫: 石頭城/金陵五題 其一

1   山圍故國周遭在

2   潮打空城寂寞回

3   淮水東邊舊時月

4   夜深還過女牆來

Notes:-

*Form, Metre and Rhyme:  The original is a 7-character quatrain.  This English rendition is in heptameter (7 beats or feet) while the original is in 7-syllable lines.  The rhyme scheme is XAXA as in the original.

*Title:  石頭城 (stone, head, city) is the other name for present-day Nanjing 南京 and is used by the poet to refer to Jinling 金陵 which was the capital city of 6 dynasties before the Tang 唐 dynasty (618-907), viz. (1) Wu 吴    or Eastern Wu 東吳 (222-280) in the late Han 漢 period of the Three Kingdoms 三國, (2) Eastern Jin 東晉 (317-420), and the Southern Dynasties of (3)  Song 宋 (420-479), (4) Qi 齊 (479-502), (5) Liang 梁 (502-557) and (6) Chen 陳 (557-589). 

    

*Line 1:  國 (state or nation or country) is rendered as “capital” as it is meant to refer not to the state but its capital city.  周遭 (surroundings) is translated literally as “environs”, and 在 (present or exist or intact) is rendered as “in place”.  The word “still”, which is implied in all 4 lines, is added here to make abundantly clear the sense of the poem: the city, its environs, the flood-tides, the Qinhuai River, the moon, the battlements are still the same----but the past is gone forever.

*Line 2:  As the city is inland, on the south bank of the Yangzi River and quite a distance from its estuary, 潮 (tide) does not refer to tides that occur in very large bodies of water such as seas and large lakes, but to waves of seasonal flood waters of the Yangzi River, and is rendered as “Flood-tides”.   打 (hit or beat or pound) is rendered as “storm” and 回 (return) rendered as “ebb”.  I have, as explained in line 1, added the word “still” to qualify “storm … and ebb”.  寂寞 in this context should be taken to mean “calm” or “tranquility” and not “lonely” or “lonesome”, and is rendered as “and quiet befalls” which, also, creates a rhyme for “walls” in line 4.

*Line 3:  淮水 (Huai, water) refers to the “Qinhuai River” and is rendered as such, and 東邊 (east, side) rendered as “East of the waters of” with “waters” added to reflect the presence of the word in the original.   舊時月 is rendered literally as “that same old ancient moon” with “ancient” added to make this second half of the line a perfect iambic trimeter.

*Line 4:  女牆 (woman, wall) means “battlement” (and has nothing to do with “woman”) which is a wall with alternating crenels (empty or open parts) and merlons (solid or sheltered parts) on the top for defence or decoration purposes.  I have rendered it as “the jagged battlement walls” with “jagged” added to somehow explain the shape.