《送春詞》

日日人空老
年年春更歸
相歡在尊酒
不用惜花飛

《Farewell to Spring》

Day after day we all grow old
But spring returns year after year we know
Let’s enjoy togetherness o’er a bottle of wine
And not feel sad seeing fallen petals fly

Qu Da Zun (1630-1696)

記燒燭  Remember the nights we burned candles
雁門高處        High on Wild Geese Pass we settled
積雪封城  Heavy flurries had the city buried in snow
凍雲迷路  Beneath frozen clouds roads not recognizable
添儘香煤  To the stove we kept adding coals
紫貂相擁 夜深語 As we cuddle in mink coats to chat the night through
苦寒如許  Such bitter cold
難和爾  How could I echo
淒涼句  Your verses of sorrow
一片望鄉愁 To our native land we pined
飲不醉  Drinking without drunk
壚頭駝乳  Camel milk warmed on stove

《Tune: Prelude to Water Melody • Written at Mid-Autumn》 Ye Meng De (1077-1148)

霜降碧天靜 Approaching Frost Fest the sky is green and serene
秋事促西風 Harvest activities hurry before winter sets in
寒聲隱地  Sounds of cold winds are heard as they begin
初聽中夜入梧桐 At midnight they get loud as plane leaves spin
起瞰高城回望 I got up to watch from the tower wall
寥落關河千里 Ten thousand miles of hills and rills had fall
一醉與君同 We drink till drunk to share our feelings
疊鼓鬧清曉 Before dawn drums repeatedly call
飛騎引雕弓 Soldiers hurry to mount and bow for war

《Tune: Partridge Sky》YeLu ChuCai (1190-1244)

花界傾頹事已遷  The temple collapsed nothing is the same
浩歌遙望意茫然  To recall the grand songs of yore is in vain
江山王氣空千劫  Hills and rills ruined in dynastic change
桃李春風又一年  Plums and peaches bring in another year in exchange

橫翠嶂  Green trees form screens horizontal
架寒烟  Mists hang cold
野花平草怨啼鵑  Wildflowers and cuckoo calls open the land portal
不知何限人間夢  Who knows the time-space limits of dreams
并觸愁思到酒邊  In sorrow I taste the sweetness of the wine-cup rim

《Tune: Silky Sand Brook•Watching the Wild》 Mi Fei (1051-1109)

日射平溪玉宇中  The sun shines on a namelass brook against a wide sky
雲横遠渚岫重重  Clouds line up mountain ranges with no divide
野花猶向澗邊红  Wild flowers shine the stream banks in red light

静看沙頭鱼入網  I watch leisurely how trapping nets invite fish in
閑支藜杖醉吟風  Leaning on my cane tipsily I sing to the wind
小春天氣惱人濃  Only this unpredictable weather has my mind unsettling

《Tune: Good News Near•Written in Dream》__Qin Guan (1049-1100)

春路雨添花 On a spring path flowers thrive with rain
花動一山春色 Hills are in beautiful scenes of spring
行到小溪深處 At the far end of a small brook
有黃鸝千百 Hundreds of oriels sing to provoke

飛雲當麵化龍蛇 Fleeting clouds change to become dragons and snakes
夭驕轉空碧 Extending their reaches to cover a sky blue and big
醉臥古藤陰下 Being drunk I lie in the shade of aging vines
了不知南北 Knowing not if it is north or south I reside

《Tune: Time Dipper Song • Real Intention》 __Wang Fu Zi (1619-1692)

斜月横  The moon hangs across the sky
疏星炯  Scattered bright stars shine
不道秋宵真永  Who says autumn nights are not infinite
聲缓缓  Dripper drops mark time in limits
滴泠泠  They also appraise space systemic
雙眸未易扃  My eyes do not easily close

《Tune: West Rill • Remembering the Ancient Capital》 Zhou Bang Yan (1056-1121)

佳麗地  The land of exceptional beauties
南朝盛事誰記  Who records the prosperity of the Six Dynaties
山圍故國繞清江  Rills meander round hills in the old country
髻鬢對起  A pair of green hills guards the river flow
怒濤寂寞打孤城  Surging billows pound the city walls powerful
風檣遙度天際  Toward the horizon tall sails steadily go