Category: Poems by – 姜夔 (1155-1221)

舊時月色    算幾番照我  梅邊吹笛
喚起玉人    不管清寒與攀摘
何遜而今漸老      都忘卻春風詞筆
但怪得竹外疏花    香冷入瑤席

江國  正寂寂      嘆寄與路遙  夜雪初積
翠尊易泣    紅萼無言耿相憶
長記曾攜手處      千樹壓西湖寒碧
又片片      吹盡也      幾時見得

Subdue Fragrance      Jiang Kui(1155-1221)      江紹倫譯

Moonlight of yore
How often do you shine on me by my call
To hear me play my flute beside the mume tree

My love I remember you so fair
I reach out for you despite the chill air

How time fleets I’m now old gradually
Forgotten
How my lyrical brush wrote spring events so merry

Beneath the bamboos why should spotty flowers invade
And leave perfumes to cool spreads of jade

My heart a land of streams
Loneliness flows
Could I send you a sprig of mume so far away
When overnight snow begins to cumulate

Branches and leaves shift positions
Memories stall when red petals tell in silent communication

I’ve always remembered together we join hands to create
Witnessed by a thousand trees greening the West Lake 

Why must petals always fall
Whence will you and I join our hands like yore

淮左名都，竹西佳處，解鞍少駐初程。
過春風十里，盡薺麥青青。
自胡馬窺江去後，廢池喬木，猶厭言兵。
漸黃昏、清角吹寒，都在空城。
杜郎俊賞，算而今、重到須驚。
縱豆蔻詞工，青樓夢好，難賦深情。
二十四橋仍在，波心蕩冷月無聲。
念橋邊紅藥，年年知為誰生。

Tune: The Yangzhou Adagio     Jiang Kui   (1155-1221)                 江紹倫譯

To the left of River Huai stands this famous capital town
West of scenic bamboo mount
I alight for a short break in my long journey

Behind me was ten li of bounty land
Green with thriving wheat strand

Ever since the northern land was overrun by the Jerchen steeds
Even tall trees around the wayward ponds
Are tired of hearing war deeds

Approaching dusk
Bugles sounded cold
From vacant towns young and old

This place the poet Du Mu praised with monumental say
Alas he would have a big surprise visiting today

His famed verses on cardamoms and sprig
And dreams in green brothels so sweet
Would be counterpoints in expressing my deep distress

The twenty-four-arch Bridge still a public interest
Beneath them water swirls continue to churn and crest
The cold moon says not a word

Ask the peonies beside these proud bridges
To whom they show their brilliance year after year