Last year this night, drunk under blooms and moon’s bright face,
This night by river, moon dims dyke and willows veil the boat’s space.
Where is my old friend now?
Take my sorrows down the river’s flow.
Next year before flowers,
Again I’ll remember last year’s hours.
去年今夜，同醉月明花树下。
此夜江边，月暗长堤柳暗船。
故人何处？带我离愁江外去。
来岁花前，又是今年忆去年。
Penned during the mid-Northern Song period, this lyric by Lü Benzhong distills the essence of farewell into crystalline temporal layers—"last year," "this year," "next year"—creating a triple-exposure of memory, solitude, and foreboding. Set along moonlit riverbanks, its restrained language and cyclical structure embody the Confucian literati's elegant sorrow, where unspoken grief resonates more profoundly than lament.
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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