Sheng Sheng Man [*O search, I search, and seek, I seek]
- Poetry of Li Qingzhao

O search, I search and seek, I seek;

Yet cold, so cold, alone, all lonely;

O sad, I’m sad and down, I’m down--- O bleak, so bleak!

At this a time when the clime, oft sudden, from warm turns chilly,

‘Tis hardest to tend to my poor physique.

How could a three-or-twosome bowls or cups of wine

Ever withstand the gusty winds that, by evening, upon me wreak?

Migrating geese fly past,

Aching, breaking my heart;

Sweet old friends of mine they were, they now, just squeak.

On the ground, yellow chrysanthemum petals pile thick,

All weary, worn and waned;

By now, O what of flowers are left for me to pick?

Watching by the window, alone---

O how I wish the hour of darkness: come soon, come quick!

The phoenix tree, drenched now in fine mizzling drizzles,

'Tis evening, in tears, a-dripping: 

A time, O such as this,

How shall the one word ‘sorrow’ suffice, to bare a heart so sick?