怕愁貪睡獨開遲
自恐冰容不入時
故作小红桃杏色
尚餘孤瘦雪霜姿
寒心未肯随春態
酒暈無端上玉肌
詩老不知梅格在
更看綠葉與青枝

To Pink Mume             Su Shi (1037-1101)                江紹倫譯

You blossom late fearing grief and loving to sleep
With an icy face you are concerned for being out of date
With touches of apricot and peach rouges your face so neat
In frost or snow your lonely grace is ever on vivid display
Your heart calm and cool you will not flirt like spring
Your dimple appears naturally to enliven your jade-like face
Poets know not how to fully describe your amazing grace
They say your beauty is seen amid branches and green foliage

客路青山外
行舟綠水前
潮平两岸闊
風正一帆懸

海日生殘夜
江春入舊年
鄉書何處達
歸雁洛陽邊 

Passing by North Mountain               Wang Wan (693-751) 江紹倫譯

Journeying by the green mountainside
My boat glides on the blue water so fine
At full tide the banks are pushed wide
Send by gentle breezes a sail hangs high

Washed in sunrise the sea leaves night behind
The river brings in spring to rid off the year old
Who will carry my letter home without delay
The wild geese are idling here in the Capital

祝英台令

寶釵分      桃葉渡           煙柳暗南浦

怕上層樓    十日九風雨

斷腸片片飛紅      都無人管
倩誰喚流鶯聲住

鬢邊覷            試把花卜心期      才簪又重數

羅帳燈昏    嗚咽夢中語

是他春帶愁來      春歸何處    卻不解將愁歸去

Late Spring                 Xin Qi Ji (1140-1207)            江紹倫譯
Tune: Hearing Zhu Ying Tai

Ever since our parting
As I pass the dock at Peach Leaf
Willows drawn the south bank with grief

I dread going upstairs again
Winds and rains are seen nine days out of ten

Red petals fall one by one so heart-rending
Who would care for my feeling
Who could ask the oriels to still their singing

Steeling a glance at my hairpin on head
I count the gathered petals your returning date I anticipate
Putting the hairpin back I again count and anticipate

In my curtained bed I see but the flickering lamplight
I choke even in dreams calling you as you take flight

Could grief be so much a part of spring I say
Whither goes spring
Why it would’nt carry grief away

送鮑浩然之浙東   

水是眼波橫
山是眉峰聚
欲問行人去那邊
眉眼盈盈處

才始送春歸
又送君歸去
若到江南趕上春
千萬和春住

To a Departing Friend            (Song) Wang Guan     江紹倫譯

Tune: Song of Divination

Rippling waters stretch to beam the eyes
On arched brows mountains gather high
Should you ask wayfarers whither bound
Just search where beaming eyes are found

I’ve just seen spring depart
And now you and I must part
Down south if you should catch a spring day
Be sure to keep her with you always

金樽清酒鬥十千    玉盤珍羞直萬錢
停杯投箸不能食    撥劍四顧心茫然
欲渡黃河冰塞川    將登太行雪滿山
閑來垂釣碧溪上    忽複乘舟夢日邊
行路難      行路難      多歧路      今安在
長風破浪會有時    直掛雲帆濟滄海

The Road of Life is Difficult             Li Bai (701-762)         江紹倫譯 

Golden bottled wine costs then thousand coins a barrel
Choice food in jade plates the same price to follow
Drinks ceased I raise my chopsticks in vain
My sword drawn I look around only to feel empty pain

I wish to cross the Yellow River it is frozen
I wish to climb Mount Taihang it is full of snow
In idle I enjoy time fishing by the blue stream
And dream of sailing a boat into the sunny horizon

The road of life is difficult
The road of life is difficult
Full of diverting paths
Whither should I go

The time will come whence I ride strong winds to cleave the waves
I will hoist my sail tall to triumph in the high sea.

紛紛墜葉飄香砌           夜寂静             寒聲碎
真珠簾卷玉樓空           天淡銀河垂地
年年今夜          月華如練          長是人千里

愁腸已斷無由醉           酒未到             先成淚
殘燈明滅枕頭倚           諳盡孤眠滋味
都來此事          眉間心上          無計相回避

Tune: Strolling on Royal Walk          Fan Zhong Yan (969-1052)    江紹倫譯

On fragrant steps green leaves shower
In a night still
Broken sounds chill 

Behind rolled up curtains an empty bower
From a pale sky the Milky Ways lower

This night every year
Bright moonlight near
We are a thousand li apart 

…

A broken heart allows me not to get drunk
Before wines arrive
Tears have my face covered

I rest on my pillow alone in flickering light
To feel the sorrow of a lonely night 

Griefs as they appear
On brows or deep in the heart
Unavoidable they are

候館梅殘    溪橋柳細    草薰風暖搖征轡

離愁漸遠漸無窮    迢迢不斷如春水

寸寸柔腸    盈盈粉淚    樓高莫近危闌倚

平蕪盡處是春山    行人更在春山外

Tune: Treading On Grass       Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072)  江紹倫譯

Mume blossoms by the roadside are fading
Willow trees near the small bridge greening
Amid warm air and fragrant grass a rider is set to go

The farther he roams the heavier his parting grief grows
On and on like torrents in the spring river flow

Tender guts hurt inch by inch
On her teary face longing eyes are locked in
Against the railing up high she must not lean

To the end of the plain lies the spring hills
Her rider husband is already beyond her view

輕舟短棹西湖好
綠水逶迤
芳草長堤
隐隐笙歌處處随

無風水面琉璃滑
不覺船移
微動漣漪
驚起沙禽掠岸飛

Tune: Picking Mulberries                  Ouyang Xiu (1007-1072)       江紹倫譯

On a light boat pedaled by short oars the West Lake is fair
Crystal water white and clear
Beyond the blue grass appears the long dike
Light music echoes hitter and thither delight

Smooth as a mirror is the lake when no breeze blowing
One feels the boat not moving
Ripples their shimmering flare
Frightened water birds skim over the winding shore