《林黛玉葬花詞》

花謝花飛花滿天，Blooms withered, blooms flying, blooms filling the sky;
紅消香斷有誰憐？Red’s faded; scent’s ended; who has pity on them?
遊絲軟繫飄春榭，Wafting Gossamers, hovering, softly tie to spring pavilions;
落絮輕沾撲繡簾。Fallen catkins, fluttering, lightly stick on embroidered screens.
簾中女兒惜春暮，A girl behind the screens feels sorry for spring soon gone;
愁緒滿懷無處訴，No one she can tell of her heart full of sorrows.
手把花鋤出繡簾，She gets out of embroidered screens with a hoe in hand,
忍踏落花來復去。And walks to and fro, unbearable to tread on  fallen blossoms.
柳絲榆莢自芳菲，Willow twigs and elm pods enjoy their self aroma,
不管桃飄與李飛。Caring not for blooms of peach floating away, of plum flying down.
桃李明年能再發，Blossoms of peach and plum can blow afresh next year;
明歲閨中知有誰？But next year, who will be in the boudoir?
三月香巢已壘成，The scented nest finished building in March;
梁間燕子太無情！But the swallows on beams are so merciless.
明年花發雖可啄，Albeit they can peck blossoms blowing next year,
卻不道人去梁空巢也傾。Yet, unawares, the person’s gone, the empty nest on beams leaning.
一年三百六十日，There are three hundred sixty days in a year;
風刀霜劍嚴相逼，The knifelike wind and the swordlike frost press so hard;
明媚鮮妍能幾時？How long can flowers remain so beautiful and fresh?
一朝飄泊難尋覓。Once they float down, nowhere to look for.
花開易見落難尋﹐Flowers in bloom are easy to see, but hard to find, once fallen.
階前悶殺葬花人，The one on steps who will bury flowers is now feeling sulky,
獨把花鋤淚暗灑，And holding the hoe alone, tears trickling stealthily.
灑上花枝見血痕。Tears splash on boughs that show the trace of blood.
杜鵑無語正黃昏，’Tis twilight, and the cuckoo is silent;
荷鋤歸去掩重門。Shouldering the hoe, I return and shut door after door.
青燈照壁人初睡，I just fall asleep with the lamp shining on the walls,
冷雨敲窗被未溫。And cold rains pelting on the window, quilts not warm yet.
怪奴底事倍傷神？I wonder why I’m so doubly unhappy.
半為憐春半惱春。It’s half pitying spring, half annoyed at spring.
憐春忽至惱忽去，Pitying spring for its sudden coming, annoyed for its sudden going;
至又無言去不聞。It’s silent when coming, and no one knows when it’s going.
昨宵庭外悲歌發，Yesterday evening in the courtyard, a melancholy song was heard;
知是花魂與鳥魂。So I know it’s souls of flowers and of birds.
花魂鳥魂總難留，The souls of flowers and birds can’t always stay;
鳥自無言花自羞。Birds keep silence and flowers so shy.
願奴脅下生雙翼，I wish to grow two wings under my armpits,
隨花飛落天盡頭。And follow the flowers flying to the end of heaven.
天盡頭，何處有香丘？At the end of heaven, where’s the aromatic tomb?
未若錦囊收艷骨，I’d rather gather beautiful bones in a brocade bag,
一抔淨土掩風流。And cover the beauty with a handful of pure earth.
質本潔來還潔去，Since born in purity, now gone in purity,
強於污淖陷渠溝。Better than buried in a dirty ditch.
爾今死去奴收葬，As you died now, I gather and bury you;
未卜奴身何日亡？I don’t know on which day I’ll pass away.
奴今葬花人笑痴，People laugh at me as idiot for burying flowers;
他年葬奴知是誰？But who will bury me in years to come?
試看春殘花漸落，Lo, flowers gradually drop in late spring;
便是紅顏老死時。It’s time for young beauty to grow old and die.
一朝春盡紅顏老，Once spring’s at the end, the beauty becomes old;
花落人亡兩不知！Then none remember fallen flowers and the deceased.