泉壑帶茅茨        雲霞生薜帷
竹憐新雨後        山愛夕陽時
閒鷺棲常早        秋花落更遲
家童掃蘿徑        昨與故人期

To My Friend Yang From my Study Qian Qi(722-780)        江紹倫譯

Around my cottage a winding brook meanders
To my straw screen clouds leave their colours
Bamboos look affectionate when newly washed by rain
Hills love the sun in its setting splendour
Idle stocks roast in their places early before the eve
Autumn flowers here are slow to shed their leaves
My house boy has swept clean the overgrown path for thee
A dear old friend I earnestly waiting to see

黑雲翻墨未遮山
白雨跳珠亂入船
卷地風來忽吹散
望湖樓下水如天

Composed at Lakeview Pavilion When Drunk   Su Shi(1037-1101)       江紹倫譯

Dark clouds like spilled ink veil not every hill
White rains dash into boats like beads randomly drilled
Hurled from the ground a sudden gale dispersed clouds on high
Beneath the Lakeview Pavilion water is same as sky

走去走來三百里    五日以為期    六日歸時已是疑    應是望多時

鞭個馬兒歸去也    心急馬行遲    不免相煩喜鵲兒    先報那人知

Tune:  Spring in Peach Blossom Country        Xin Qi Ji (1140-1207)          江紹倫譯 

To complete a round trip of three hundred li
It would take five days you told me
Now I suspect it may take an extra day
And worry anxiety may overwhelm your wait

Asking my horse to gallop more hurriedly
My impatience grows as it trots but slowly
Shouting to a passing magpie I ask it to help me
Fly quick to let my friend know home I shall be

醉裡且貪歡笑    要愁那得工夫    近來始覺古人書    信著全無是處

昨夜松邊醉倒    問松我醉何如    只疑松動要來扶    以手推松曰去。

Self-reflection        Xin Qi Ji  (1140-1207)                 江紹倫譯
Tune:   Moon Over the West River                   

I love to laugh in delight even when drunk
No time to grieve
Books of ancient saints may say their fill
Those words should ne’er be taken seriously still

I got drunk beside a pine tree last night
It asked me why I like being drunk
I sensed the tree was trying to hold me right
Keep off I said and pushed away its trunk

別來春半    觸目柔腸斷    砌下落梅如雪亂    拂了一身還滿

雁來音信無憑    路遙歸夢難成    離恨恰如春草    更行更遠還生

Tune:  Serene Music    Li Yu(937-978)                 江紹倫譯

Spring is half gone since we parted
My heart breaks where’er it tries to park
Mume blossoms fall like scattering snow
They cling on me though I brushed them off minutes ago

The geese came bringing no message from you
Home is too far even in a dream
Parting griefs are like grass in spring
They thrive however far I walk trying to leave them behind

昨夜風兼雨    帘幃颯颯秋聲    燭殘漏斷頻倚枕    起坐不能平

世事漫隨流水    算來一夢浮生    醉鄉路穩宜頻到    此外不堪行

Tune: Crow Cries By Night      Li Yu (937-978)                 江紹倫譯

Raining wind soughed all night long
My door screen rustled like an autumn song
Water clock drips kept me from sleep after candlelight died
I got up from bed with a disquiet mind

All things drift gone like water in a perishing stream
Life floats but like a dream
Let’s frequent the road to beautiful drunkland
Nothing else is worth raising a hand

花明月黯籠輕霧
今霄好向郎邊去
衩襪步香階
手提金縷鞋

畫堂南畔見
一向偎人顫
奴為出來難
教君恣意憐

《Tune:  Buddhist Dancer》        Li Yu (937-978)        江紹倫譯

Bright flowers veiled in thin mist under dim moonlight
‘Tis an opportune time to venture your way my love
With torn stockings in fragrant steps I tread
Holding my slippers sown with golden thread

We meet south of the painted hall
In your firm embrace trembling I fall
‘Tis not easy for me to meet you often
So do caress me every way as you please

枯籐老樹昏鴉
小橋流水人家
古道西風瘦馬
夕陽西下
斷腸人在天涯

Autumn Thoughts          Ma Zhi Yuan   (1260-1334)                     江紹倫譯         
Tune:  Clear Sky Over Clear Sand                     

Dry vines old trees a confused crow
Small bridge flowing water a cosy family
Ancient road west wind a skinny horse
The setting sun goes down west
A broken-heart stays afar

何事添淒咽
但由他    天公簸弄
莫教磨涅
失意每多如意少
終古幾人稱屈
須知道  福因才折
獨臥藜床看北斗
背高城  玉笛吹成血
聽譙鼓
二更徹

丈夫未肯因人熱
且乘閑    五湖料理
扁舟一葉
淚似秋霖揮不四
灑向野田黃蝶
須不羨  承明班列
馬跡車塵忙未了
任西風  吹冷長安月
又蕭寺
花如雪

Comforting a Friend    Nalan Xingde  (1655-1685)                江紹倫譯
Tune:   Song of Golden Tread

Why reinforce misery
Leave it to the power on high in a wee
Insist not in being sully
Life is more disappointing than satisfactory
Most people complain not in history
Heaven dislikes the able and favours the ordinary
I relax on my rude couch to watch the Dipper
Beyond the city wall a flute laments its cadence bitter
A drum booms out the hour from the watchtower
The night is darkest in the small hours

A man ought not to seek patronage
On a boat light as a leave
I sail the five lakes in glee
‘Tis useless to waste tears copious like autumn rain
Let sad feelings loose on a wide plain for butterflies to wing
Do not envy people in government office
Trapped in the dizzy whirl of endless business
Let the west wind blow in the capital by moonlight
O solemn temples
Floral snow

客夜怎生過
夢相伴    綺窗冷和
薄嗔佯笑道
若不是恁淒涼
肯來麼

來去苦悤悤
準擬待    曉鐘敲破
乍偎人    一閃鐙花墮
卻對著琉璃火

Dream in a Temple     Nalan Xingde  (1655-1685)                   江紹倫譯
Tune:  Looking for My Lover

How could I pass the night in this inn
With you in my dream
Sharing poems by the window
You cajole in a giggle
Were it not for pitying your yearning
Would I’ve come into your dream

You and I come and go in too much rush
When we are surely together
To last till bells toll in the morning
I wake to recall you fell off my arms in a light dimmed
Before me a radiant world confronts me with a big beam