夜半樂 柳永

夜半樂         柳永 (宋)  

凍雲黯淡天氣，扁舟一葉，乘興離江渚。

渡萬壑千岩，越溪深處。
怒濤漸息，樵風乍起，更聞商旅相呼。
片帆高舉，泛畫鷁、翩翩過南浦。
望中酒旆閃閃，一簇煙村，數行霜樹。
殘日下，漁人鳴榔歸去。
敗荷零落，衰楊掩映，岸邊兩兩三三，浣沙遊女。
避行客、含羞笑相語。
到此因念，繡閣輕拋，浪萍難阻。
歎後約，丁甯竟何據。
慘離懷，空恨歲晚歸期阻。
凝淚眼、杳杳神京路。斷鴻聲遠長天暮。

Ye Ban Le          Liu Yong (Song Poet)

The gloomy sky is laden with chilly cloud layers,

Taking a whim I board a boat and sail off the shore,
Passing thousands of enchanting mountain ravines and rivers,
Deep into a stream fading away are the billow roars,
Presently winds from the hills come with travelling tradessmen’s palavers,
Under the bright sun with sail fully reared,
The boat like a bird towards the south soars,
There inn signs in the air gleamily flutter,
Over the hamlets mists hover,
A dozen rimy trees strut prominently in the flush of the sun as it respires,
Fishermen beating on the bows calling it a day and retire,
Lotus in the pond has nearly withered,
Willows by the roadside hang in clutters,
Laundry girls come in a cluster,
They shy away from other travelers,
And more shy with their laughters,
Their naivety and insouciance make me deeply chagrined at leaving behind the one I care at her bower,
Like duckweed I drift everywhere,
When can I see her again hereafter?
Will my pledge to her be honoured?
I can’t say for sure either,
How sorrowful are the griefs of sunder,
Fleeting time has me utterly shattered,
Amidst the fading whimpers of the wayfaring lone wild goose in the vesper,
I can only gaze at the Capital with eyes simmering with tears.