I wish you were like the moon o’er riverside tower,
North, south, east, west—
North, south, east, west—
Following me every hour, never apart.
I hate you for being like that moon so bright,
Waxing full then waning—
Waxing full then waning—
When will your perfect circle reunite?
恨君不似江楼月，南北东西，南北东西，只有相随无别离。
恨君却似江楼月，暂满还亏，暂满还亏，待得团圆是几时？
Composed during the twilight of the Northern Song, this lyric by Lü Benzhong exemplifies the era's mastery of emotional restraint. Through lunar metaphor and structural parallelism, it captures a woman's lament—at once reproachful and yearning—for an absent lover. The poem's brilliance lies in its dual paradox: the moon is both idealized as constant companion and reviled as fickle orb, mirroring love's contradictions with crystalline precision.
Classical Chinese poetry thrives on Concision and Ambiguity. Without tense or number, the words create a timeless space where the reader becomes the co-creator of the poem's meaning.
Look for Contrasts: light and shadow, movement and stillness. Don't just translate the words; feel the Yijing (artistic conception) that lingers long after the last character.
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