Category: Poems by – 辛棄疾 (1140-1207)

《Tune: Moon Over West River》Xin Qi Ji

萬事煙雲忽過   Ten thousand affairs gone like clouds and haze
一身蒲柳先衰   A hundred years of willows withered away
而今何事最相宜  What is best for me to do at present?
宜醉                                     To get drunk
宜遊                                     To leisure
宜睡                                     To sleep Continue reading →

《Tune: Water-Dragon Chant·At Jiankang Riverside Tower》Xin Qi Ji

楚天千里清秋  A thousand li of autumn color in southern sky
水隨天去秋無際  Water meets sky in endless autumn dye
遙岑遠日  I gaze on far-off northern hills
獻愁供恨  Feeling sorrow mixed with hatred still
玉簪螺髻  Seeing spiral shells and hair décor of jade flowers
落日樓頭  The sun sets behind the tower
斷鴻聲里  A swan song come and gone early
江南游子  This lone wanderer is in southern territory
把吳鉤看了  With my precious long sword
欄干拍遍  I bang on every railing
無人會，登臨意  But no one understands why I am up this tower Continue reading →

南鄉子 （登京口北固亭有懷）       辛棄疾 (1140-1207)

何處望神州  滿眼風光北固樓
千古興亡多少事  悠悠  不盡長江滾滾流

年少萬兜鍪   坐斷東南戰未休
天下英雄誰敵手  曹劉  生子當如孫仲謀

Tune: Song of the South     Xin Qi Ji  (1140-1207)  江紹倫譯
Reflections Ascending the Tower at Jingkuo

Where is my godly home in the Central Plain
Seeing but northern country I searched in vain
In the drift of time dynasties thrive and wane
Slowly and at ease
Following the Yangtze’s flow ceaselessly

The young Sun had a garrison of ten thousand at his command
Steel-willed he defended all of the southeastern land
If you ask who could be his equal in this noble land
Cao and Liu
Cao had a son like Sun Zhong Mou

Tune: Joy of Eternal Union
Pining for Ancient Heroes at Jingkou    Xin Qi Ji  (1140-207)           

The boundless hills and rills of yore
Nowhere can I find the king defending the SouthShore
Gallant deeds on dancing stages and singing halls
Washed away by cold winds and driving rain
Whence the setting sun touches the grass and forest again
And the houses amid the unadorned lanes
Where the defeated king had lived in shame
In the other bygone years
Soldiers on armored steeds carrying golden spears
Claiming like tigers a ten thousand li territory on Central Plain

His son launched in haste a Northern Campaign
Defeated on Wolf Mount he shed tears in vain
I remember three and forty years ago
How the Capital Yangzhou was burned by the Jurchen foes
Away my memory
How the enemy ancestral hall
Worshipped in rolling drumbeats and crow calls
Dare anyone ask
If the aging general Lian Po
Is strong enough to win back the Capital of yore

夜行黃沙道中

明月別枝驚鵲  清風半夜鳴蟬  稻花香裏說豐年  聽取蛙聲一片
七八個星天外  兩三點雨山前  舊時茅店社林邊  路轉溪橋忽見

Tune: Moon Over West River  辛棄疾(1140-1207) 江紹倫譯
(On my way home through the Yellow Sand Ridge)

My presence startled magpies leaving the moon-lit trees
Cicadas shrill at midnight in the gentle breeze
The sweet fragrance in the rice fields promises a bumper year
In celebration frogs croak their chorus I happily hear

High in the sky seven or eight stars twinkle
This side of the hill two or three raindrops sprinkle
I recall a small tavern near the village woods
There it appears where the path leads to the bridge over the brook

為陳同甫賦壯詞以寄之

醉裡挑燈看劍  夢迴吹角連營  八百里分麾下炙  五十弦翻塞外聲  沙場秋點兵
馬作的盧飛快  弓如霹靂弦驚  了卻君王天下事  贏得生前身後名  可憐白髮生

Tune: Dance of Cavalry  Xin Qi Ji (1140-1207) 江紹倫譯
(In response to Chen Liang)

Drunken we till lamps bright to check our resting glaives
Bugles reverberate from tent to tent in our dreams
Our warriors ate beef grilled on hot sand in banner shades
They sent martial airs beyond the frontier by fifty strings
‘Twas an autumn maneuver in combat exercise

Gallant steeds galloping at top speed
Our bows twanged in thundering heat
We recovered lost sovereign land for empire glory
And won fame for ourselves in life as in death
Grey hair ours to keep