祝英台令

寶釵分      桃葉渡           煙柳暗南浦

怕上層樓    十日九風雨

斷腸片片飛紅      都無人管
倩誰喚流鶯聲住

鬢邊覷            試把花卜心期      才簪又重數

羅帳燈昏    嗚咽夢中語

是他春帶愁來      春歸何處    卻不解將愁歸去

Late Spring                 Xin Qi Ji (1140-1207)            江紹倫譯
Tune: Hearing Zhu Ying Tai

Ever since our parting
As I pass the dock at Peach Leaf
Willows drawn the south bank with grief

I dread going upstairs again
Winds and rains are seen nine days out of ten

Red petals fall one by one so heart-rending
Who would care for my feeling
Who could ask the oriels to still their singing

Steeling a glance at my hairpin on head
I count the gathered petals your returning date I anticipate
Putting the hairpin back I again count and anticipate

In my curtained bed I see but the flickering lamplight
I choke even in dreams calling you as you take flight

Could grief be so much a part of spring I say
Whither goes spring
Why it would’nt carry grief away