Monday 27 June 2016

木蘭花 錢惟演

木蘭花       錢惟演 (962-1034)
城上風光鶯語亂,城下煙波春拍岸。
綠楊芳草幾時休,淚眼愁腸先已斷。
情懷漸覺成衰晚,鸞鏡朱顏驚暗換,
昔時多病厭芳尊,今日芳尊惟恐淺。

Mu Lan Hua              Qian Weiyan (962-1034)

Amidst the glamorous scenery on the city wall chatter the orioles,
Beneath the city wall mists shroud the shore with laving vernal azure ripples,
The rankly sprawling green grasses and willows,
When are they going to wilt?
Anon tears swill my bruised soul,
Down in the doldrums I feel I am growing old,
The mirror tells me I don’t look just the same anymore after all,
When I was young I was fragile and always loathed the wine in the bottle,
Now growing old I just hate to have too little fine wine to quell my dismals.

 

Thursday 23 June 2016

木蘭花 乙卯吳興寒食 張先

木蘭花    乙卯吳興寒食      張先(990-1078)龙头舴艋4吴儿56 ,笋柱7秋千游女并8
龍頭舴艋吳兒競,筍柱鞦韆遊女並。
芳洲拾翠暮忘歸,秀野踏青來不定。
行雲去後遙山暝,已放笙歌池院靜。
中庭月色正清明,無數楊花過無影。 [3] [
Mu Lan Hua    Written on the Cold Meals Festival in the year Yimao     
Zhang Xian (990-1078)

In the small dragon grasshopper boats young sparks strenuously roll,
On the bamboo grille swings gills merrily waggle,
Travellers gallivanting on the meadows with abandon loath to go home even at nightfall,
The verdure of the grassland captures the shuttling visitors with captivating appeals,
When drifting clouds disperse the distant mountains turn gloomy as dusk falls,
Fading music leaves the ponds and courtyards serenely tranquil,
Moonlight in the courtyard brightly glows,
Frittering willow down leaves not a trace after away it floats.

 

Sunday 19 June 2016

江城子 蘇軾

江城子   鳳凰山下  湖上張先同賦    蘇軾 (1037-1101)

鳳凰山下雨初晴,水風清,晚霞明。
一朵芙,開過尚盈盈。
何處飛來雙白鷺,如有意,慕娉婷。

忽聞江上弄哀箏,苦含情,遣誰聽!
煙斂云收,依約是湘靈。
欲待曲終尋問取,人不見,數峰青。

Jiang Cheng Zi   Beneath Mt Phoenix
Written Together with Zhang Xian on the West Lake    
Su Shi (1037-1101)

Beneath Mt. Phoenix rain lulls,
Waters are limpid and the zephyr refreshingly vital,
Effulgently the dusk sun glows,
A Lotus blow,
Well past her full prime bloom, yet still elegantly graceful,
Presently comes a white heron couple,
Contrive to admire her chic with reverential approval.

Meanwhile from the river comes unsettlingly mournful zither ruffles,
Imbued with excruciating angst and painfully sorrowful,
To all those who can with all ears uphold,
Anon mists and clouds dissolve,
The player, most probably Naiad the Nymph idol,
As the music lulls, she goes mizzled,
Leaving on the Lake only verdant pinnacles.

Wednesday 15 June 2016

西江月 黃陵廟 張孝祥

西江月   黃陵廟      張孝祥(1132-1169)
滿載一船明月,平鋪千里秋江。
波神留我看斜陽,喚起鱗鱗細浪。
明日風回更好,今朝露宿何妨?
水晶宮裡奏霓裳,準擬岳陽樓上

Xi Jiang Yue   The Huang Ling Temple   
Zhang Xiaoxiang (1132-1169)
On a boat bristling with bright moon glow,
Spanning over a thousand miles the autumnal light sparkles,
Conjuring up combers in scales,
The water goddess deliberately keeps me staying to marvel,
Tomorrow as the wind veers I’ll take it back and fill so more smoothly my boat will sail,
It might be a pleasure putting up for the night on a boat out in the wild,
Listening to water dabbles on the boat as enchanting as music from the Crystal Palace Abysmal,
Arriving Yueyang I must mount the Yueyang Tower to have the stimulating panorama of Lake Dong Ting to extol.


 

Saturday 11 June 2016

破陣子 晏殊

破陣子      晏殊(991-1055)
燕子來時新社,梨花落後清明。
池上碧苔三四點,葉底黃鸝一兩聲。 日长飞絮轻。日長飛絮輕。
巧笑東鄰女伴,采桑徑裡逢迎 。
疑怪昨宵春夢好,元是今朝鬥草贏。 笑从双脸生。笑從雙臉生。

Po Zhen Zi               Yan Shu (991-1055)

It’s the Spring Harvest Festival on the return of north bound swallows,
Ching Ming Festival arrives when pear blossoms wilt,
By the pond ever and anon see dots of verdant mosses,
Amidst the foliage come twitters of orioles,
In the long spring day willow down fritter facile,
Along the placid mulberry path I come across the vivacious mulberry picking girls from east neighbor with their joyous fairy laughter trills,
That adds up to what my dream last night forebodes,
We are going to win today’s grass contest trial,
With that I break into a broad gratifying smile.

 

 

Tuesday 7 June 2016

木蘭花慢 辛棄疾

木蘭花慢     辛棄疾 (1140-1207)
中秋飲酒將旦,客謂前人有賦待月無送月者,因用天問体賦

可憐今夕月,向何處,去悠悠?
是別有人間,那邊才見,光景東頭?
是天外,空汗漫,但長風浩浩送中秋?
飛鏡無根誰?姮娥不嫁誰留?
謂經海底問無由,恍惚使人愁。
怕萬里長鯨,縱橫觸破,玉殿瓊樓。
蝦蟆故堪浴水,問何玉兔解沉浮?
若道都齊無恙,何漸漸如鉤?

Mu Lan Hua Man           Xin Qiji (1140-1207)
I drink through the night of the Mid Autumn Festival till daybreak. My company say people of old have verses on welcoming the moon but none of farewelling her. Availing the form of “ The Heavenly Questions” I write this.

The lovely moon this nightfall,
Where will she sally forth?
So remotely remotely far off,
Is there another human world,
Thither she makes her arrival,
And on the east she bursts forth,
Is it the voidness beyond the heavens boundlessly boundlessly sprawls,
Seeing away the Mid Autumn Festival on the long gale,
Who could have kept the bondless flying mirror in hold,
And who could have kept Chang’er from her espousals?
Some suggest under the sea she could have bolted,
To delve into that there is no cause rational,
This mystery plagues one with anguished puzzles,
Upon the moon’s exquisite chambers and pavilions palatial,
A thousand miles spanning whale may stumble,
Surely shrimps and toads are used to underwater disposals,
But what about the heavenly Hare, how about his survival?
If they’ll all remain unscathed as usual,
Why does she gradually end up in a sickle?

 

Sunday 5 June 2016

昭君怨 楊萬里

昭君怨     詠荷上雨    楊萬里 (1127-1206)
午夢扁舟花底,香滿西湖煙水。
急雨打篷聲,夢初驚。
卻是池荷跳雨,散了真珠還聚。
聚作水銀窩,瀉清波。

Zhao Jun Yuan   Rain Over the Lotus      
Yang Wanli (1127-1206)

Awaking from my afternoon nap amidst the lotus in a little boat,
Coming around my dreams from amidst wisps of lotus fragrance over the West Lake misty and diaphanous waters and mizzles,
A fit of gusty rain beating on the boat canopy has my dream despoiled,
Pearls of rain drops in the lotus leaves sprinkle and dabble, disperse and assemble,
When they gather they are mercury in a vessel,
As they disgorge they make silver rapid falls.

 

 

Friday 3 June 2016

清平調(其三) 李白


清平調()     李白 (701- 762)
名花傾國兩相歡,
常得君王帶笑看。
解釋春風無限恨,
沉香亭北倚欄杆。

A Light Melody (Poem No.3)            Li Bai (701- 762)

As ravishing and devastating is Lady Yang to the captivating flushing blows,
Unsatied is the Supreme Lord who always looks on them with fond smiles,
To rid the vernal zephyr of its unrelenting ruffles,
On the north balustrade of the Chen Xiang Pavilion savouring them all day He lolls.

Wednesday 1 June 2016

清平調(其二) 李白


清平調(其二)     李白(701- 762)
一枝紅艷露凝香,
雲雨巫山枉斷腸。
借問漢宮誰得似,
可憐飛燕倚新妝。

A Light Melody (Poem No.2)       Li Bai (701- 762)

A ravishing flushing spray of peony with her fragrance in dews lies perdu enfolded,
The dream coitus rendezvous Prince Xiang of Chu had with the fairy left him only a depleted bruised soul,
Whosoever in the Han Palace to a spray of peony resembles?
Who other than the freshly spruced up delicate and pathetic Feiyan in the chicest style.