尋尋覓覓，冷冷清清，淒淒慘慘戚戚。乍暖還寒時候，最難將息。三杯兩盞淡酒，怎敵他、晚來風急。雁過也，正傷心，卻是舊時相識。
滿地黃花堆積。憔悴損，如今有誰堪摘。守著窗兒，獨自怎生得黑。梧桐更兼細雨，到黃昏、點點滴滴。這次第，怎一個、愁字了得。
Tune: Adagio Li Qing Zhao 江紹倫譯
I search and search for what’s missing
Riding on a cold lonely train hissing
Drearily hurtfully painfully
Whence the weather alternates between warm and cold
‘Tis most difficult to forget and hold
Drinking by cups and carafes alone I float
Cannot dispel the gloom of dusk and drifts of sudden blow
I watch geese flying pass
In grief
Could they be the ones I used to know
… … …
Yellow flowers cover everywhere in piles
Faded
Who would care to pick any to hold
I sit by the window in solitude
Waiting counting how long will it take till night befall
Of plane trees and drizzles
They patter and grizzle at dusk
For all these
How could the word sorrow my circumstances narrate
i don’t quite understand what is meant by the “lonely train” in line 2 of your translation above. would be grateful for your enlightenment, please.
may i submit for comments/amendments my attempt at translating this song ci as follows: thanks.
聲聲慢 李清照(1084-1151)
尋尋覓覓，冷冷清清，淒淒慘慘戚戚。乍暖還寒時候，最難將息。三杯兩盞淡酒，怎敵他、晚來風急。雁過也，正傷心，卻是舊時相識。
滿地黃花堆積。憔悴損，如今有誰堪摘。守著窗兒，獨自怎生得黑。梧桐更兼細雨，到黃昏、點點滴滴。這次第，怎一個、愁字了得。
Tune: Adagio Li Qingzhao
I seek and seek, search and search (for the good life that passed me by)–
Cold, cold is the wind and so lonely, lonely am I!
(With dear husband and half of my country gone–) It’s so sad, sad!
Hurtful, hurtful! And so bad, bad!
While it should be warm, the cold still lingers in protest,
Making it hard for me to take a peaceful rest.
Cups of weak wine are no match for the piercing winds at night;
Returning to the north, a string of wild geese pass by in flight.
While my deep sorrows are unsurpassed,
Some of the passing geese I knew in years past.
The ground overflows with yellow flowers;
Desolate and hurt, who will want to pick them at these hours?
I keep watch alone by the window, O when will the night e’er fall?
Light rain keeps falling, pitter-patter, on the plane trees and all.
Drop by drop, drip by drip — then evening is finally here;
Now, how can the mere word “sorrows” describe my situation so severe?
i’d like to revise the first and the last 2 lines of my trans1ation as follows:
“I seek and seek, search and search (for the home life that passed me by) –”
“Through drop by drop, drip by drip — Evening, light rains finally acquire.
For all this, how could mere “sorrows” describe my situation dire?”
i found that in some chinese books, the “正傷心” version is rendered as
“最傷心”, which appears to me to make more sense in this context.
hence, the related lines are re-rendered as:
“My sorrows are unsurpassed,
For I know some of the passing geese from years past.”