Beside the broken bridge and outside the post-hall,
A flower is blooming forlorn.
Saddened by her solitude at night-fall,
By wind and rain she's further torn.
Let other flowers their envy pour.
To Spring she lays no claim.
Fallen in mud and ground to dust,she seems no more,
But her fragrance is still the same.
驿外断桥边，寂寞开无主。
已是黄昏独自愁，更著风和雨。
无意苦争春，一任群芳妒。
零落成泥碾作尘，只有香如故。
Of all the flowers the patriotic poet loved best the mume blossom,about which he wrote more than one hundred poems,for he himself felt lonely like the flower,rejected by the capitulationists in power.
The plum blossom is confident and noble. It doesn’t try to fight for its place in the warm spring and has no intention of competing with other flowers. When the time is due, the plum blossom’s petals fall and mix with mud and dirt, yet the fragrance they leave behind will never change. This is the spirit that traditional Chinese people seek. Everyone will eventually be gone, but what you do should leave a positive legacy for future generations.
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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