I wonder why my inlaid harp has fifty strings,
Each with its flower-like fret an interval of youth.
...The sage Chuangzi is day-dreaming, bewitched by butterflies,
The spring-heart of Emperor Wang is crying in a cuckoo,
Mermen weep their pearly tears down a moon-green sea,
Blue fields are breathing their jade to the sun....
And a moment that ought to have lasted for ever
Has come and gone before I knew.
Poem translator: Kiang Kanghu
锦瑟无端五十弦，一弦一柱思华年。
庄生晓梦迷蝴蝶，望帝春心托杜鹃。
沧海月明珠有泪，蓝田日暖玉生烟。
此情可待成追忆？只是当时已惘然。
Seven-character-regular-verse
This renowned poem The Inlaid Harp, a masterpiece by Li Shangyin, stands as one of the most exquisite examples of late Tang poetry. Though its exact composition date remains uncertain, the work is steeped in an ethereal melancholy, widely interpreted as an elegy to lost youth and unfulfilled love. Through the metaphor of a zither's strings, the poet orchestrates a symphony of memory, employing layered allusions to evoke vanished years, unspoken affections, and ineffable regret. Neither narrative nor explicitly confessional, the poem constructs a dreamscape of elusive symbolism, becoming a paradigm of the poet's signature "untitled" style.
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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