水光瀲灩晴方好
山色空濛雨亦奇
欲把西湖比西子
淡妝濃抹總相宜
Drinking By West Lake in Changeable Weather 江紹倫譯
Beaming waves flicker bright under a sunny sky
Colours of hazy mountains create extraordinary scenes to flirt the eye
Should we compare West Lake with Xi Shi the legend beauty
They are equally radiant seen with make-up or presented naturally
赴密州 早行 馬上寄子由
孤館燈青，野店雞號，旅枕夢殘。
漸月華收練，晨霜耿耿，雲山攡錦，朝露漙漙。
世路無窮，勞生有限，似此區區長鮮歡。
微吟罷，憑征鞍無語，往事千端。
當時共客長安，似二陸初來俱少年。
有筆頭千字，胸中萬卷，致君堯舜，此事何難用舍由時，行藏在我，袖手何妨閑看
身長健，但優游卒歲，且鬥樽前。
To My Brother On My Way to Exile 江紹倫譯
Tune: Qin Garden Spring
In this lone inn the lamp burns a dim green
Cock crows are heard too early in morning
Breaking my lingering dream
Quietly the moon recedes its cold rays
Enters the morning frost here to stay
Clouds and hills together weave fine brocades
Morning dews their pearly drops in display
Worldly affairs go on without limit
Man’s toiling lives are but short visits
How I had led a life joyless and oft in defeat
After singing this song
I mount my saddle in silence to go on
Brooding over a thousand past events as I ride along
Remember our days together in the capital
Somewhat like the young Lu brothers in literary fame
On our brush tips essays of a thousand words easily attained
Knowledge in ten thousand volumes within our rein
We advise great emperors in history
With no difficulty
Careers can only advance on the right time
Decisions are mine
Why not stand aside to watch with folding arms how the world goes by
May we keep in good health
To pass our days and years in tranquillity
And don’t forget to keep wine urns empty
一葉舟輕，雙槳鴻驚。水天清、影湛波平。魚翻藻鑒，鷺點煙汀。
過沙溪急，霜溪冷，月溪明。重重似畫，曲曲如屏。
算當年、虛老嚴陵。君臣一夢，今古空名。
但遠山長，雲山亂，曉山青。
Passing Through The Seven-league Shallows 江紹倫譯
Tune: Joy of Union Eternal
A boat light as a leaf on water glide
Its dipping oars frighten wild geese nearby
With water and sky serene
Clear shadows follow gentle waves green
In and out of water- plants fishes play
An egret dots the misty space in no haste
So I go
On sandy rills rowing bold
On frigid water enduring the cold
On moonlit rivers serene
Every turn presents me with picturesque scenes
Every bent appears a screen
I recall those years past
Empty days spent
In the emperor’s dreams
Then as now
Deeds and fame n’er end up in books of history
Distant hills stay eternal
Cloudy hills in dishevel
Morning hills ever so green
Round the cape of a sudden came the sea,
And the sun looked over the mountain’s rim:
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.
Tr. YK Chan 陳耀國譯:
早別 (英) 罗伯特.博朗寧
轉角突達海
日望山端來
金徑彼直通
眾世我需貢
NOTE: “Parting At Morning” and its companion piece “Meeting At Night” were published together simply as “Night and Morning”. For those who wish to translate “Meeting At Night”, here it is:
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low;
And the startled little waves that leap
In fiery ringlets from their sleep,
As I gain the cove with pushing prow,
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand.
—
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach;
Three fields to cross till a farm appears;
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
And blue spurt of a lighted match,
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears,
Then the two hearts beating each to each!
To My Departed Wife
Translation by Paul Lee (1962)
塞下秋來風景異
衡陽雁去無留意
四面邊聲連角起
千嶂裏
長煙落日孤城閉
濁酒一杯家萬里
燕然未勒歸無計
羌管悠悠霜滿地
人不寐
將軍白髮征夫淚
Tune: Fisherman’s Pride 江紹倫譯
Autumn scene in the frontier looks extraordinary
Wild geese leave not a day too soon in a hurry
From all four corners bugles repeatedly roar
Walled in by peaks
The town gates are lowered before sun-fall
I hold a cup of unstrained wine knowing home is far away
Short of a clear victory any plan to return home is in sway
On frosty grounds foreign flutes tune only doleful says
No one could sleep
Seeing the general’s hair grey soldiers weep
夢後樓臺高鎖
酒醒簾幕低垂
去年春恨卻來時
落花人獨立
微雨燕雙飛
記得小蘋初見
兩重心字羅衣
琵琶絃上說相思
當時明月在
曾照彩雲歸
Tune: Immortals By the River 江紹倫譯
Awake from my dream I find the tower locked tight
Heavy curtains hang low a sober sight
Whence last year’s spring sorrows visit and grow
Alone I stand amid flower buds unfold
In the drizzle a pair of swallows left leaving no trace to follow
I still remember when I first met lovely Ping
Her silk dress embroidered with two hearts locked in a ring
She played the pipa to sing her love for me
The moon was our witness
She brought home for me a cloud of such brilliance
平岸小橋千嶂抱
揉蘭一水萦花草
茅屋數間窗窈窕
塵不到
時時自有春風掃
午枕覺來聞語鳥
攲眠似聽朝雞早
忽憶故人今總老
貪夢好
茫然忘了邯郸道．
Tune: Fisherman’s Pride 江紹倫譯
Small bridges linking smooth banks on the lap of hills
Sapphire water meanders through floral and grass mazes in a rill
Thatched cots stand around their windows so neat
No dust here
Vernal breezes sweep them away thither and hither
From my noonday noose I wake to hear birds sing
Their chirps loud like cocks crowing the dawn in
I realize in a flash people do pass away when old
‘Tis alright to have dreams to hold
They help me forget that one day I too have to go
高錕 received his Nobel Prize and we were all happy to see that he attended the ceremony.
You can watch videos of the ceremony as well as the Nobel Lecture given by his wife on his behalf at