In a snow of flying willowcotton whitening the duckweed,
Bluebirds find their way with vermilion handkerchiefs.
But power can be as hot as flame and burn peoples fingers.
Be wary of the Premier,watch for his frown.
哀江头
少陵野老吞生哭,春日潜行曲江曲。
江头宫殿锁千门,细柳新蒲为谁绿?
忆昔霓旌下南苑;苑中景物生颜色。
昭阳殿里第一人,同辇随君侍君侧。
辇前才人带弓箭,白马嚼啮黄金勒。
翻身向天仰射云,一箭正坠双飞翼。
明眸皓齿今何在?血污游魂归不得。
清渭东流剑阁深,去住彼此无消息。
人生有情泪沾臆,江水江花岂终极?
黄昏胡骑尘满城,欲往城南望城北。
A Song of Sobbing by the River
I am only an old woodsman,whispering a sob,
As I steal like a springshadow down the Winding River.
Since the palaces ashore are sealed by a thousand gates—
Fine willows,new rushes,for whom are you so green?
I remember a cloud of flags that came from the South Garden,
And ten thousand colours,heightening one another,
And the Kingdoms first Lady,from the Palace of the Bright Sun,
Attendant on the Emperor in his royal chariot,
And the horsemen before them,each with bow and arrows,
And the snowy horses,champing at bits of yellow gold,
And an archer,breast skyward,shooting through the clouds
And felling with one dart a pair of flying birds.
Where are those perfect eyes,where are those pearly teeth?
A bloodstained spirit has no home,has nowhere to return.
And clear Wei waters running east,through the cleft on DaggerTower Trail,
Carry neither there nor here any news of her.
People,compassionate,are wishing with tears
That she were as eternal as the river and the flowers.
Mounted Tartars,in the yellow twilight,cloud the town with dust.
I am fleeing south,but I lingergazing northward toward the throne.
哀王孙
长安城头头白乌,夜飞延秋门上呼。
又向人家啄大屋,屋底达官走避胡。
金鞭断折九马死,骨肉不待同驰驱。
腰下宝玦青珊瑚,问之不肯道姓名,
但道困苦乞为奴。
已经百日窜荆棘,身上无有完肌肤。
高帝子孙尽隆准,龙种自与常人殊。
豺狼在邑龙在野,王孙善保千金躯。
不敢长语临交衢,且为王孙立斯须。
昨夜东风吹血腥,东来橐驼满旧都。
朔方健儿好身手,昔何勇锐今何愚?
窃闻天子已传位,圣德北服南单于。
花门剺面请雪耻,慎勿出口他人狙。
哀哉王孙慎勿疏,五陵佳气无时无。
A Song of a Prince Deposed
Along the wall of the Capital awhiteheaded crow
Flies to the Gate where Autumn Enters and screams there in the night,
Then turns again and pecks among the roofs of a tall mansion
Whose lord,a mighty mandarin,has fled before the Tartars,
With his golden whip now broken,his nine warhorses dead
And his own flesh and bone scattered to the winds…
Theres a rare ring of green coral underneath the vest
Of a Prince at a streetcorner,bitterly sobbing,
Who has to give a false name to anyone who asks him—
Just a poor fellow,hoping for employment.
A hundred days hiding in grasses and thorns
Show on his body from head to foot.
But,since their first Emperor,all with hooknoses,
These Dragons look different from ordinary men.
Wolves are in the palace now and Dragons are lost in the desert—
O Prince,be very careful of your most sacred person!
I dare not address you long,here by the open road,
Nor even to stand beside you for more than these few moments.
Last night with the springwind there came a smell of blood;
The old Capital is full of camels from the east.
Our northern warriors are sound enough of body and of hand—
Oh,why so brave in olden times and so craven now?
Our Emperor,we hear,has given his son the throne
And the southern borderchieftains are loyally inclined
And the Huamen and Limian tribes are gathering to avenge us.
But still be carefulkeep yourself well hidden from the dagger.
Unhappy Prince,I beg you,be constantly on guard—
Till power blow to your aid from the Five Imperial Tombs.