麗人行 杜甫

麗人行      杜甫 (712 - 770 )
三月三日天氣新，長安水邊多麗人。

態濃意遠淑且真，肌理細膩骨肉勻。

繡羅衣裳照暮春，蹙金孔雀銀麒麟。
頭上何所有？翠微闔葉垂鬢唇。
背後何所見？珠壓腰衱穩稱身。
就中雲幕椒房親，賜名大國虢與秦。
紫駝之峰出翠釜，水精之盤行素鱗。
犀箸厭飫久未下，鸞刀縷切空紛綸。
黃門飛鞚不動塵，御廚絡繹送八珍。
簫鼓哀吟感鬼神，賓從雜遝實要津。
後來鞍馬何逡巡，當軒下馬入錦茵。
楊花雪落覆白蘋，青鳥飛去銜紅巾。
炙手可熱勢絕倫，慎莫近前丞相瞋！

Ballad of Lovely Women            Du Fu (712 - 770 )

On the third day of the third month, the weather is fresh, brisk and festivity laden,
By the watersides of Chang’an there are many a lovely woman,
Their looks gorgeous, captivating and elegant,
Their aloof deportment exudes real refinement,
Their complexions delicate and their figures in delicately proportional elements,
Their embroidered silk dresses glister in the late spring open,
Setting off the peacocks in gold thread and unicorns in silver thread passements,
What do they wear on their heads?
Emerald feather jewellery reaching down to the edges of their hair-fronts,
What do we see at their backs?
Skirts of pearl nets, fitting perfectly their exquisite measurements,
Among them are the relatives of the Mistress of the Cloud Curtains and the Pepper-flower Apartments,
Ladies crowned with the names of great states, Guo and Qin;
Purple camel humps emerge from green cauldrons,
Fish with glinting scale are served on crystal patens,
Chopsticks of rhino-horn, sated with abandon, remain unmoved in reluctance,
The belled knife cutting these thread-like slices has wasted its busy vain motions,
Palace eunuchs gallop up in rapid succession,
Bringing delicacies from the imperial kitchen,
The flying hooves of their horses never seem to have touched the dust for a second;
Now, amidst music mournful enough to move even deities from fifes and drums,
Surrounded by a shoal of followers and minions,
What a man of hubris this last rider who comes pacing in high arrogance,
At the balustrade surrounding the pavilion, he dismounts and sits amid the diners on the carpet with fancy patterns,
The willow-down falls like snow over the white water-weed in its settlement,
A blue bird flies off bearing a lady’s red handkerchief in its rostrum,
Unequalled by any other, he is a man who wields power that would burn your hand at any moment,
Do keep clear, least you would provoke the Chief Minister’s dudgeon.