when mother parted with her sons
the bitter cry dimmed the rays of the sun's
all because of this general's victory
last year over the defeated enemy
with an imperial award of two million gold
he got a Luoyang beauty to replace the old
the new mistress, a lotus flower in the palm
the old wife was deemed some kind of harm
what is sad was not his betrayal of the wife
but the deprivation of the kids from her life
one has just started walking holding the wall
the other just learned how to sit up after all
sitting or walking they held her dress and cry
those poor children the mother was followed by
"now you guys' enjoying of a new matrimony
is brutally taking my kids out of my custody
I fare worse than crows and magpies in the trees
where fathers stick to the mothers who to the kids
it's more like the trees of fruit growing ranches
when flowers fall the fruits're left on the branches
hey, you the new wife, bestow your ears on me
brothels in Luoyang have plenty girls like thee
here I present my wish for the general's new feat
See how a new wife will send you on fleeing feet!
生查子·元夕
文/欧阳修
译/于岚(方壶斋)
去年元夜时,花市灯如昼。
月上柳梢头,人约黄昏后。
今年元夜时,月与灯依旧。
不见去年人,泪湿春衫袖.
The Lantern Festival Night
By OUYANG Xiu
Translated by YU Lan aka Fang Huzhai
The last Lantern Festival fair
The lanterns were bright everywhere
The moon shone through the willow tree
There a fair beauty I would see
On this Lantern Festival night
The moon and lanterns are as bright
Where's the person of last year?
Nowhere, my shirt is wet with tear