Autumn Beauty 秋思
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Tag Archives: YK Chan
Lest we forget, on this day 毋忘昨日之日
Listen and ruminate on Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, if you like:
胡笳十八拍 13,14,15 (东汉) 蔡琰 [文姬]
Eighteen Refrains on Tartar Pipes 13,14,15 Cai Yan [Cai Wenji] (ca. 177-?)
Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译
13
不谓残生兮却得旋归，抚抱胡儿兮泣下沾衣。
This late in life my successful repatriation is not expected,
My blouse’s wetted by tears as my Tartar sons are hugged tight.
汉使迎我兮四牡腓腓，号失声兮谁得知？
With the Han emissary and a four-horse-drawn carriage standing by,
Wildly I wail but who cares even when my wailing voices die?
与我生死兮逢此时，愁为子兮日无光辉，焉得羽翼兮将汝归？
In life-death departure, grieving for my boys the sun shines no more; return them not to me before they grow up?
一步一远兮足难移，魂消影绝兮恩爱遗。
A step farther away from them my feet cannot move,
Though their images are disappearing, my love for them is not remov’d.
十有三拍兮弦急调悲，肝肠搅刺兮人莫我知。
At thirteenth refrain the tempo accelerates and melody turns grave,
No one but me know that I fall apart into an abysmal cave.
14
身归国兮儿莫之随，心悬悬兮长如饥。
Repatriated without my sons for upbringing,
My heart forever starves of all my longings.
四时万物兮有盛衰，唯我愁苦兮不暂移。
Everything thrives or dies according to the seasons,
But my sorrow and bitterness never waive with reasons.
山高地阔兮见汝无期，更深夜阑兮梦汝来斯。
In this whole wide world we’ll ne’er meet again,
Late at night in my dream you two come to me again.
梦中执手兮一喜一悲，觉后痛我心兮无休歇时。
Dreaming of holding your hands I’m split between joy and grief,
Awake my heart pangs never stop to offer me relief.
十有四拍兮涕泪交垂，河水东流兮心是思。
By fourteenth refrain my sobs and tears mingle,
Like a stream flowing east my thoughts tingle.
15
十五拍兮节调促，气填胸兮谁识曲？
The tempo accelerates at fifteenth refrain,
Who’d recognize sulking and anger sound like twain?
处 庐兮偶殊俗，愿得归兮天从欲。
Staying in Tartar camp at odds with their custom,
Heaven grants my wish of returning home I fathom.
再还汉国兮欢心足，心有怀兮愁转深。
Repatriating to Han I’m gladly satisfied,
But sadness in my heart is intensified.
日月无私兮曾不照临，子母分离兮意难任。
The sun and moon shine all over but not on me,
For I can’t bear being separated my sons from me
同天隔越兮职商参，生死不相知兮何处寻？
Under the same sky yet we can ne’er meet,
About each other’s well being where to seek?
胡笳十八拍 10, 11, 12 (东汉) 蔡琰 [文姬]
Eighteen Refrains on Tartar Pipes 10, 11, 12 Cai Yan [Cai Wenji] (ca. 177-?)
Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译
10
城头烽火不曾灭，疆场征战何时歇？
Beacons on the Great Wall are ne’er out at ease,
Will fights on the battlefield ever cease?
杀气朝朝冲塞门，胡风夜夜吹边月。
Day after day killing rampages through the frontier gates,
Night after night gusts whip along moonlit border in haste.
故乡隔兮音尘绝，哭无声兮气将咽。
Isolated from homeland news can’t be heard,
Muted sobs of frustration are swallowed and unheard.
一生辛苦兮缘离别，十拍悲深兮泪成血。
A hard life since my separation from those I love,
At sad tenth refrain my tears turn fast into blood.
11
我非贪生而恶死，不能捐身兮心有以。
I loathe dying not because I wish to long live,
For good reasons I don’t take my own life.
生仍冀得兮归桑梓，死当埋骨兮长已矣。
Living, so one day to my homeland I’ll return,
If dead, and my bones buried that’s just not a concern.
日居月诸兮在戎垒，胡人宠我兮有二子。
Day in day out staying in war camp what I’ve done;
Tartar spoils me as I bore him two sons.
鞠之育之兮不羞耻，悯之念之兮生长边鄙。
Them I nurture without dishonour,
‘Tis a pity they’re brought up off the border.
十有一拍兮因兹起，哀响缠绵兮彻心髓。
So it starts for the eleventh refrain,
My grief lingers deep inside unrestrained.
12
东风应律兮暖气多，知是汉家天子兮布阳和。
Vernal breezes harmonize in a warming trend,
By virtue of the Han emperor’s grace it tends.
羌胡蹈舞兮共讴歌，两国交欢兮罢兵戈。
Southern Huns celebrate by song and dance,
For the two nations reconcile and lay down their arms.
忽遇汉使兮称近诏，遣千金兮赎妾身。
Han emissary suddenly brings forth the emperor’s mission,
That’s to send handsome monies for my repatriation.
喜得生还兮逢圣君，嗟别稚子兮会无因。
Joyful of survival and meeting the virtuous son of heaven,
But regrets to leaving young sons without good reason.
十有二拍兮哀乐均，去往两情兮难具陈。
At twelfth refrain grief and joy made even,
My mixed emotions are difficult for entailment.
胡笳十八拍 7, 8, 9 (东汉) 蔡琰 [文姬]
Eighteen Refrains on Tartar Pipes 7, 8, 9 Cai Yan [Cai Wenji] (ca. 177-?)
Tr. YK Chan 陈耀国译
7
日暮风悲兮边声四起，不知愁心兮说向谁是？
At dusk whining winds on all sides of frontier start,
To whom shall I bare my mournful heart?
原野萧条兮烽戍万里，俗贱老弱兮少壮为美。
By destitute rampart outskirts beacons and tents stretch mile after mile.
The weak and old mistreated but the young and strong held up in style.
逐有水草兮安家葺垒，牛羊满野兮聚如蜂蚁。
Following water and grassland to settle as homestead in tents,
Herding cattle and sheep like bees and ants in open land.
草尽水弱兮羊马皆徙，七拍流恨兮恶居于此。
Sheep and horses driven again when grass and water exhaust,
At seventh refrain I loathe why I reside here and find myself lost.
8
为天有眼兮何不见我独漂流？为神有灵兮缘何处我天南海北头？
If an all-seeing eye is watching why it sees not I’m alone drifting?
If the Almighty keeps order why my world’s upside-down shifting?
我不负天兮天何配我殊匹？我不负神兮神何殛我越荒州？
I haven’t offended the one high above why am I betrothed into a foreign race?
I haven’t neglected the Almighty why am I banished to the wilderness without trace?
制兹八拍兮拟排忧，奈何曲成兮心转愁。
To relieve myself from sorrows this eight refrain ends,
Yet when the melody ends to melancholy my heart tends.
9
天无涯兮地无边，我心愁兮亦复然。
Heaven has no end, earth has no brink,
Melancholy in me is endless also I think.
生倏忽兮如白驹之过隙，然不得欢乐兮当我之盛年。
Life passes suddenly as it is ephemeral and toyed,
Yet in my prime I am not overwhelmed with joy.
怨兮欲问天，天苍苍兮上无缘。
Regretful, I wish to learn from heaven high,
Yet in vast space no reason’s found to confide.
举头仰望兮空云烟，九拍怀情兮谁与传？
Looking far above are just mists and grey,
Sentiments at ninth refrain to whom shall I convey?
【红楼梦曲·枉凝眉*】 (清) 曹雪芹 (约1715—约1763)
Futile Frown* Cao Xueqin (~1715-1763) 枉凝眉
Trans. by YK Chan 陈耀国
一个是阆苑仙葩，One is a fairyland fresh flower;
一个是美玉无瑕。the other, a flawless jadestone empower’d.
若说没奇缘， If not for mysterious destiny,
今生偏又遇着他；how in this life we again meet each other;
若说有奇缘， If destiny really acts mysteriously,
如何心事终虚化？How’s that our wishes come to naught ever?
一个枉自嗟呀， One sighs in futility;
一个空劳牵挂。 one uselessly harbors anxiety.
一个是水中月， One is a moon mirrored in water,
一个是镜中花。 one is a flower seen in the mirror.
想眼中能有多少泪珠儿，How many pearly tears from the eye
still seep,
怎经得秋流到冬尽， throughout autumn till winter’s end,
春流到夏！ or throughout spring till summer’s
encounter’d?
Music composed by Wang Liping 王立平 (1941- ) for a Chinese TV series of Dream of Red Mansions
Originally sung by Chen Li 陈力 (soprano):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpzhz0UVdDQ
Guzheng arrangement古筝曲: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvupUuXW5cY
__________________________
* As the lyrics of one of the songs narrated in Chapter 5 of Cao’s Dream of Red Mansions. The songs set the fate of the twelve belles as narrated in the following chapters of the novel. (Ref: http://baike.baidu.com/view/50556.htm)
紅豆詞* (清) 曹雪芹
Song of the Red Bean* Cao Xueqin (1715 — 1763/1724 — 1764)
Translated by YK Chan (December 2009); revised June 2013
HongDou CI
睡不稳纱窗风雨黄昏后，忘不了新愁与旧愁。
咽不下玉粒金波噎满喉，照不尽菱花镜里形容瘦。
展不开的眉头，捱不明的更漏。
呀！恰便似遮不住的青山隐隐，流不断的绿水悠悠。
My bleeding heart and tears of desperation drip endlessly like red beans dropping;
Yet, forever blooming spring willows and flowers are in full view at this picturesque dwelling.
Tossing and turning after dusk for that storm strikes at the lace-screen window,
I forget not at all recent and past sorrow.
Swallowing not delicious rice and fine wine, they choke down my throat;
Looking into infinity the ornate mirror reflects only my meagerness and despair.
My frown can’t be unlocked; I endure the long dark night not.
Ah! It’s just like a green mountain that’s only vaguely veiled in fog,
Or a meandering emerald stream that can’t be block’d!
——————————
*The ‘red bean’, 红豆 hongdou, here really is the jequirity bean, which is produced by the leguminous jequirity plant (Abrus precatorius, cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrus_precatorius) and used often in Chinese poetry as a love token—相思豆 xiangsi dou, the love bean, e.g. 王维 (701-761) Wang Wei’s poem 相思 Xiangsi.
Xiangsi 相思 denotes a special yearning for a loved one, from whom the lover is separated. Cao’s 红豆詞 HongDou Ci (Song of the Red Bean) is from his famed Dream of Red Mansions. It was written as a poem for the protagonist, 贾宝玉 Jia Baoyu, to sing after he was separated from his lover, 林黛玉 Lin Daiyu. It appears in Chapter 28 of this classic novel.
Music composed by Liu XueAn 刘雪庵 (1905-1985)
Guzheng solo:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NuRGlo2_L-4
José Carreras (tenor) performance:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSs1ciW_lUA&feature=related
胡笳十八拍 1,2 (东汉) 蔡琰 [文姬]
冬至诗三首, & Let the Sun Shine In 陈耀国 YK Chan
(一) 序
昔日未空前 明朝焉绝後
喜怒哀樂慾 无为返田園
唐敖消遥游 小山赴红文1
浮生歲月沈 征途日暮歸
(二) (三)
早见日中天 晚靠夕阳红 冬临耳当顺 岁长欲从心
昏黄驯白辉 暗里耀天涯 或曰人胜天 終归大自然
银光回反昼 太阴悦眼前 明日永不多 自负成蹉跎
斗柄正北移 银河非寒冰 心雄非万丈 他山无汗青
—————————————————
1 唐敖、小山俱(清)李汝珍著<鏡花缘>故事中心人物。
Let the sun shine in
during winter to savour its lovingness.
Its radiance thaws the heart
and invigorates you with compassion.
Like gentle tendrils solar rays
cuddle up the slender trunk, mending where it is sore.
Its warmth curls your hair more,
darkening it and rekindling youthful lore.
Outdoors it melts the frost
that slowly encroaches like moss,
chilling your conscious mind.
Let the sun shine in and reflect back to the frost.
Let not the sun shine in during summer time
when it is too hot to mime.
So scalding it’d numb your soul,
just keep the shutters down to block its tentacles.
Let the sun shine in spring and fall,
as it brightens the days you recall.
Drive away the rain and fog,
which are too much to be at odds.
May the sun always rise on Golden Pond,
and bring reflections on the water that meanders.
Punting on the way singing an evensong,
for sure I will hear it when you come on board.
“A Translation Is A Woman” by YK Chan
It’s been said that a translation is like a woman, who is either beautiful or faithful, but not both.
For example, try to translate this Chinese doublet:
光阴似箭 日月如梭
人生几何 对酒当歌
My friend, SL Chow of Regina (a psychology professor), rendered it this way:
Like an arrow time travels in haste
As sun and moon interlaced
To Bacchus and Terpsichore
Fleetingness of life submits
It has an appeal of western art and culture. He also corrected the order of the last two phrases. On the other hand, in my attempt I keep their order as written above because 梭 rhymes with 歌 in Cantonese:
Time flies like an arrow; sun and moon shuttle forward.
Life lasts only so long; drink together and sing along.
This rendition remains faithful to the oriental flavor without allusion to Greek mythology,
while preserving the original imagery.
The native English speaker may identify with the first version more easily, while some may
prefer an unfamiliar taste of naïveté or uncouth literalism. I have also made each phrase
conform to a five-word structure similar to the four-word phrase of the Chinese format.
It is even harder to make each phrase with the same number of syllables for uniformity
as in the original Chinese, which consists of monosyllabic characters.
There is more than one way to skin a cat.
We, SL and I, agreed that for the reader, each has his/her own taste and interest.
A last word: The Chinese doublet reminds me of the wit of Groucho Marx, who once said: