Fan Zhongyan

Fallen leaves desultorily drift over pot plants lined stairs,

The night is still, bar a few murmurings of insects.

I roll up the beaded screens to admire the azure dome,

Clear is the sky, the Milky Way casts its shine towards the ground like drapes.

Every year this time, the moon beams smoothly like silk,

Yet thousands of miles away is the object of my affections.

Already rent is my heart, I cannot be more intoxicated,

Before I could further drink up, I've already more tears shed.

Lying askew is a pillow by the gleam of a dimming lamp,

How familiar I am with what it's like to in loneliness sleep and dwell.

So often reminded of this I am, it weighs on my mind and brows,

Yet there is nothing I can do to it fend.

A boat could be perilous as a leaf,

You will shock to look at shipside;

During the day you are on the land,

Never forget one's dangerous agony.

When autumn comes to the frontier,the scene looks drear,

South-bound wild geese won't stay

E'en for a day.

An uproar rises with horns blowing far and near.

Walled in by peaks,smoke rises straight

At sunset over isolate town with fastened gate.

I hold a cup of wine,yet home is faraway,

The Northwest is not won and I'm obliged to stay.

At the flutes'doleful sound

Over frost-covered ground,

None fall asleep,

The general's hair turns white and soliders weep.

Blue sky,yellow leaves

autumn wind on the lake,

a wisp of the blue sorrow.

Sunset kissed the mountains,

cloud kissed the lake water.

You didn't know how much i love you,

grass stretched out their souls beyond the horizon.

heart broke,distant home,

autumn air on the garden,

a wisp of the red sorrow.

Moonshine kissed the railing,

i kissed the half-bloom clover.

You didn't know how much i love you,

Every drop of grape wine all turned into the silent yearning.