Long into the night I sing "Yang-guan's" refrain,
till my brocade gown by powders and tears stained,
cut off by so much more than rivers and mountains,
rain-showers cover my whispers in seclusion.
In fierce sorrow I go, a heart broken with pain.
I forget which cup this is, or how many I've drained.
Let the flying geese be the messengers we send!
Donglai is not as far as Penglai, that fairy land!
(Translated by Gordon Osing and Julia Min)
泪湿罗衣脂粉满，四叠阳关，唱到千千遍。
人道山长山又断，萧萧微雨闻孤馆。
惜别伤离方寸乱，忘了临行，酒盏深和浅。
好把音书凭过雁，东莱不似蓬莱远。
This ci is thought to have been composed in 1120 on her way from Qingzhou to join her husband Zhao Mincheng who became governor of Laizhou. Li Qing-zhao had lived in Qingzhou for over ten years and had intimate friends there. These friends would have followed her out several miles from the town to see her off. She has come to her first night alone in a hotel and it has been raining all night while she passed painfully her lonely hours drinking. It was likely Autumn.
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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