#1 长恨歌 A Song of Never-Ending Sorrow
长恨歌 A Song of Never-Ending Sorrow
白居易 Bai Ju-Yi
Translated by 八十一子
汉皇重色思倾国，The emperor of Han preferred women over his land,
御宇多年求不得。He sought out beauties with all his might but remained unsatisfied.
杨家有女初长成，A girl in the Yang family just grew up,
养在深闺人未识。Not known to anyone, been raised in deep boudoir.
天生丽质难自弃，Too beautiful to be married commonly,
一朝选在君王侧。She was eventually found by the emperor’s men.
回眸一笑百媚生，One gleam from her beams one hundred kind of charm,
六宫粉黛无颜色。And the colors of all the ladies in the six palaces fade away.
春寒赐浴华清池，In the early spring she takes a bath in the spring of Hua Qing,
温泉水滑洗凝脂。The warm water flows on the silky skin.
侍儿扶起娇无力，Soft, tender and delicate, she leans on her servant,
始是新承恩泽时。That is the time she receives love from the emperor,
云鬓花颜金步摇，Hairs like clouds, face like a flower, golden ornament dangling,
芙蓉帐暖度春宵。Spring nights all spent in the lotus tent.
春宵苦短日高起，The nights are too short and the sun rises too early,
从此君王不早朝。The emperor never again wants to attend his morning court.
承欢侍宴无闲暇，Pleasing and waiting on the emperor not a moment spared,
春从春游夜专夜。Spring outing every day, sleeping with the emperor every night.
后宫佳丽三千人，There are three thousand beauties in the harem,
三千宠爱在一身。Three thousand all ignored but her.
金屋妆成娇侍夜，In the golden room she makes herself up for the evening,
玉楼宴罢醉和春。In the jade pavilion she drinks with the emperor before love-making.
姊妹弟兄皆列土，Her brothers and sisters are all knighted,
可怜光彩生门户。On to her family descends Royal glory.
遂令天下父母心，This makes all the parents in the land change their mind,
不重生男重生女。Now they all want girls instead of boys.
骊宫高处入青云，The palace on the Li mountain rises above the clouds,
仙乐风飘处处闻。Music of the gods carried miles away by the wind.
缓歌谩舞凝丝竹，Enchanting songs, dreamy dances, the strings and winds,
尽日君王看不足。The emperor can have but enough from morning till evening.
渔阳鼙鼓动地来，The sound of war drums from Yu Yang shook the grounds,
惊破霓裳羽衣曲。Breaking the dances in rainbow-colored feather cloths.
九重城阙烟尘生，The nine gates of the capital buried in smokes of dust,
千乘万骑西南行。Thousand and thousand troops rode toward south-west.
翠华摇摇行复止，The green flags of the emperor's entourage moved then stopped,
西出都门百余里。Traveled only a few scores of miles west of the city.
六军不发无奈何，The six armies refused to move forward,
宛转蛾眉马前死。Demanding our beauty killed there and then.
花钿委地无人收，The flowery ornaments scattered around, no one seemed to notice
翠翘金雀玉搔头。Jade and gold hair accessaries in the shape of birds.
君王掩面救不得，The emperor covered his face, crying in helplessness,
回看血泪相和流。Only to turn back to see streaming blood mixed with tears.
黄埃散漫风萧索，Yellow dust filled the air, and the wind stopped,
云栈萦纡登剑阁。The road to the Mount of Sword House stepping into the clouds.
峨嵋山下少人行，Travelers were seldom encountered in the E-Mei mountains,
旌旗无光日色薄。The flags of the armies faded and the sun shone in vain.
蜀江水碧蜀山青，The rivers of Shu are green and the mountains blue,
圣主朝朝暮暮情。Thoughts of her are unbearable day and night.
行宫见月伤心色，Over the summer palace the moonlight breaks his heart.
夜雨闻铃肠断声。In the rain at midnight the sound of the bells cuts into his guts.
天旋地转回龙驭，The sky whirling, the earth turning, the emperor on his way home,
到此踌躇不能去。Returning to the place where she dies, he cannot go any further.
马嵬坡下泥土中，In the dirt at the foot of Mount Ma Gui,
不见玉颜空死处。Not a hint can be found of the place the beauty is killed.
君臣相顾尽沾衣，His officials watching him, their cloths wet by their tears,
东望都门信马归。Due east to the capital, the horses lead them back.
归来池苑皆依旧，Back in the court everything remains unchanged,
太液芙蓉未央柳。The lotus in the Tai Ye pond and the sallow trees in front of Wei Yang Palace.
芙蓉如面柳如眉，The lotus is like her face and the sallow leaves her eye brows,
对此如何不泪垂。How can anyone who sees these not let down tears.
春风桃李花开日，In the spring wind the peach and plum flowers blossom,
秋雨梧桐叶落时。In the autumn rains the leaves fall from the parasol trees.
西宫南内多秋草，The dry grasses are tall in the south yard of the West Palace,
落叶满阶红不扫。The foliage so thick the steps stained red.
梨园弟子白发新，New gray hairs betray the students in the music troop,
椒房阿监青娥老。The staffs in the queen's quarters are getting old.
夕殿萤飞思悄然，The fireflies light up the quiet court yard,
孤灯挑尽未成眠。The oil burnt in the lonely lamp but one still cannot sleep.
迟迟钟鼓初长夜，The long night forever fresh and the clocks stuck.
耿耿星河欲曙天。The river of stars in no haste to promise day break.
鸳鸯瓦冷霜华重，The roof of the room the couple used is heavy with morning dew,
翡翠衾寒谁与共。The bed cold, who is there to share?
悠悠生死别经年，Many, many years between the dead and the living,
魂魄不曾来入梦。Her spirit never seemed to appear in his dreams.
临邛道士鸿都客，Came a Taoist monk who had traveled everywhere,
能以精诚致魂魄。Claiming he could communicate with the spirits in good faith.
为感君王辗转思，Moved by the emperor's unsettling want of his lady,
遂教方士殷勤觅。He and his men started searching.
排空驭气奔如电，They flew in the air, drove the wind, fast like thunders,
升天入地求之遍。Into the sky and the earth, searched all places.
上穷碧落下黄泉，They reached the end of the blue heaven and the bottom of the yellow springs,
两处茫茫皆不见。Nothing was found in between, no matter, no how.
忽闻海上有仙山，There is however this saying about a fairy mountain beyond the seas,
山在虚无缥缈间。Although the whereabout of the mountain is uncertain.
楼阁玲珑五云起，There are small houses among five-colored clouds,
其中绰约多仙子。Many fairies appear to be wondering in between.
中有一人字太真，The name of one of the fairies is "Ultimate Truth",
雪肤花貌参差是。Her skin of snow and face of flower resemble those of our beauty.
金阙西厢叩玉扇，The Taoist monk knocks on the jade door to the west chamber of the gold temple,
转教小玉报双成。Asks that he be announced to the Lady.
闻道汉家天子使，Hearing that a messenger from the emperor of Han is here,
九华帐里梦魂惊。She suddenly wakes up from a dream, the calm of her soul stirred.
揽衣推枕起徘徊，She puts on cloths, pushes away the pillows, walks up and down by the bed,
珠箔银屏迤逦开。Then orders the pearl drapes and the silver screen opened.
云髻半偏新睡觉，Her hair is out of shape from sleeping,
花冠不整下堂来。Her flower hat not tidied.
风吹仙袂飘飘举，Her dresses float in wind as if to raise her,
犹似霓裳羽衣舞。Just like she is dancing to the music of rainbow-colored feathers.
玉容寂寞泪阑干，Her face betraying loneliness, her tears not yet dried,
梨花一枝春带雨。She looks like a white pear flower awash in the Spring rain,
含情凝睇谢君王，Gathering herself together, she thanks the emperor,
一别音容两渺茫。Says how she longs to see him all these years.
昭阳殿里恩爱绝，The love that was plenty in the Hall of Bright Sun is no more,
蓬莱宫中日月长。And the months and years are long in her house on Peng Lai Island.
回头下望人寰处，When she looks down upon where the people live,
不见长安见尘雾。She cannot see Chang An the capital but dust and fog.
唯将旧物表深情，She asks the messenger to take some of her old belongings,
钿合金钗寄将去。A hairdressing box with a gold hairpin to give to her man.
钗留一股合一扇，She keeps half of the hairpin and half of the box,
钗擘黄金合分钿。The hairpin is made of gold and the box precious stones.
但教心似金钿坚，With the hope that his heart will be as invincible as gold and stone,
天上人间会相见。Then they will meet eventually in the heavens or among the people.
临别殷勤重寄词，Again and again she asks the messenger to remember,
词中有誓两心知。She and the emperor shares a secret in an oath.
七月七日长生殿，An oath made on the seventh day in the seventh month in the Hall of Longevity,
夜半无人私语时。In the midnight when there was not a single soul about to hear.
在天愿作比翼鸟，They wish to be two birds flying side by side in the sky,
在地愿为连理枝。Or two trees with branches among each other.
天长地久有时尽，There is always an end to the seemingly timeless heaven and earth,
此恨绵绵无绝期。But the sorrow in their hearts will never end.
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