The jade table mirror at this time every year
would see her brow wearing the plum flower.
This year it gets bored to find her alone in here;
A mail from River South may seize her in fear.
She’s refrained from wine since parting there,
but can’t hold from falling her running tears.
She could feel clouds over him now gathering,
so far away even the world’s edge seems near.
年年玉镜台，梅蕊宫妆困。
今岁未还家，怕见江南信。
酒从别后疏，泪向愁中尽。
遥想楚云深，人远天涯近。
The fear mentioned could be a strong hint about her father’s shaky situation at the Royal Court where the old party and the new party are fighting like dogs and cats right now. And her concern was witnessed later as her father, together with many others following Su Dongpo were been heavily punished and banished far away from the political stage. So the ‘clouds over him’ could refer to the heated power fight well recorded in all history books. We could imagine the depression felt by Yi’an about her family as well as about the fate of Southern Song.
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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