渭城朝雨浥轻尘， 
客舍青青柳色新。
劝君更尽一杯酒,
西出阳关无故人。
Farewell to Yuan II on a Mission to Anxi * Wang Wei (699-759)
Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译
Morning rain dusts Wei City clean,
Willows by the inn shimmer green.
Down yet another glass thee I pray,
Exit west from Sun Pass old friends fade.
____________________________________________
*又名《渭城曲》、《阳关曲》、《陽关三叠》、或《赠别》。Also known as “Melody of Wei City”, “Sun Pass Melody”, “Three Refrains of Sun Pass”, or “Farewell”.
古筝自伴女中音独唱 Mezzo-soprano solo self-accompanied on the zhen: http://union.bokecc.com/ccplay.bo?vid=1843324&uid=16672&isp=3&skin=1&protect=1
or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QVHeqLbp30
古琴独奏 Guqin solo: http://union.bokecc.com/ccplay.bo?vid=4931821&uid=16672&isp=3&skin=1&protect=1
hi, y k,
could i append below an attempted rendition for comments? thanks.
【渭城曲】 王维
渭城朝雨浥轻尘， 客舍青青柳色新。
劝君更尽一杯酒， 西出阳关无故人。
Weicheng Song Wang Wei
The morning rains cleanse light dusts off Wei town;
Green willows and the inn put on fresh gown.
One last cup of wine, won’t you drink with me?
West of Yang Pass, no more old friend you’ll see!
frank
oops! the poet should of course be “Wang Wei”.
Hi Frank,
I’ve corrected your misspelling of “Wang” as “Wand”
Line 1: “Rains” suggests more than one episode of rain in the morning, which is possible, but might not be in Wang Wei’s mind.
Line 2: I have the image that the green willows give the inn a refreshing color and look. Your translation is a good approximation of that image.
Line 3: It’s more likely one more cup instead of the last cup.
Line 4: Yang Guan is the name of a place and community at a geographical pass.
Well done again!
YK
thanks, y k!
on ‘rains’, of course it might or might not be raining more than once that particular morning at Yang Guan or ‘Yang Pass’ (latter used in my rendition for the benefit of the non-chinese speaking readers). actually, for my own purpose i thought the plural ‘rains’ would balance off nicely with the plural ‘dusts’ in the same line.
on line 3, you may of course be right about ‘one more cup’ rather than the ‘last cup’. nonetheless, i used ‘last cup’ here so that this is echoed or reinforced by ‘no more old friend’ in line 4.
thanks, again.
frank
1. It does not matter much if both nouns are either in singular or plural form. Actually, we do not usually think of dust as just one speck of dust but a collection of particles.
2. Either way would connect to the last line as there will be no more drinking with old buddies once out of town. However, drinking once more is meant in the original persuasion.